BIS AUFS MESSER mailordernews ( AGNOSTIC FRONT , HATE ETERNA
Verfasst: 10.11.2007, 13:33
folks. how is it going – we are a two piece again while robert is still struggling w/ the weather in germany after being 3 weeks lazy and in freedom land.
We got some nice new records for the mailorder like the new LES SAVY FAV LP as a limited US press, the new JESU lifeline 12inch in tons of different colors, the latest DAUGHTERS LP on vinyl etc etc.
We are waiting to get the MINION LP and the DAITRO/ SED NON SATIATA split LP from the pressing plant in the next two weeks.
So far so good. We gonna make some coffee and wait for you orders to come in Smilie
mailorder@bisaufsmesser.com
http://www.bisaufsmesser.com/store
I hope you are all doing good
later
stefan & robert
7“
CHUCK RAGAN work the bank 7” ( hometown caravan - Limited euro tour 7”) 5,00
STRIBORG / SCURSHAHOR split 7" (southern lord – limited split 7inch – black metal and limited) 6.50
WARWOLF (level – plane - Holy shit, it actually came out! The debut recordings from the Austin, Texas powerhouse WARWOLF, featuring former dudes from the legendary EMPLOYER, EMPLOYEE! This is absolutely relentless and couldn't be much more recommended. Absolutely raging hardcore fury, with unholy amounts of distortion, some underlying melody and a bit of metal and punk elements thrown in for taste... but WARWOLF is out for blood and that's what this brutal 7" delivers. SO good, this really is borderline essential!) 5.00
10inch
PLACE OF SKULLS love through blood 10" (blood and iron records -
Limited to 500 copies Well, here it is. The posthumous, final Place of Skulls release. While they only released two full-length albums – 2002’s Nailed and 2004’s With Vision (which featured Scott “Wino” Weinrich) – they were a band whose influence was immediate and profound. Listening to this four song EP, it’s easy to lament the band’s passing. Love Through Blood is very much a eulogy. First, it’s the band’s sound. Place of Skulls have always been situated firmly in the traditional doom camp, and like The Obsessed, Pentagram, or St Vitus, they craft songs that are equal parts melancholy and dread. What gives Place of Skulls distinction is their use of melody, which has always been more prevalent than with their contemporaries. On Love Through Blood, the melody is accented by acoustic guitars and more reflective passages. It may not be as doomy as prior releases, but it has more of an emotional heft. Second, the religious dogma that is a distinct part of Place of Skulls is more in the forefront on these four songs. Vocalist/guitarist Victor Griffin has never shied away from his Christian beliefs, but “Consuming Fire,” “Cornerstone,” “Days of Trouble,” and “Blood of Jesus” don’t cloak his convictions in metaphors. Whether you agree with his beliefs or not, these personal testimonies add gravitas.) 13.00
THANK GOD/ MONARCHS split 10" (mashnote / Yep, two bands, 6 songs, and a whole lot of musical pleasure. Monarcs carry on playing their blend of melancholic riffing and tight beats. Thank God are crazy frantic and yet ready to lure you in with twisted lullabies. And now for the namedropping... Monarcs are ex-Tunes for Bears to Dance to, and has members of Capsule. Thank God are ex-Antischism and ex-Guyana Punch Line. ) 9.50
LP
AGNOSTIC FRONT warriors LP (nuclear blast records -limited coloured vinyl edt. # / 1000 Many people claim bands are either love them or hate them bands, but this cannot be applied better than it is to Agnostic Front. This band will have a devoted core of fans passionate about this kind of smash-mouth music, but also there will be a good percentage of people out there that know this is just not for them. Agnostic Front have just that, a very raw and aggressive front - this is very much metal for heavily tattooed bald people who like to fight as the front cover of the album makes sure you understand before picking it up. This is hardcore thrash metal and it is good quality hardcore thrash metal as well. "Warriors" explodes right from the beginning with a flurry of double bass drumming with "Addiction", accompanied by typical hardcore style guitar riffs and the shouting, hostile vocals of Roger Miret. If the very style of Agnostic Front does not put off then the almost strange, overly threatening vocals might do the trick - still, a few songs in and everything becomes normal. In true hardcore style the songs are hardly epic opuses, the longest song on the album is just over three minutes, the average song length is probably around the two minutes area. The lyrics do not touch on any deep, emotional matters, but again this is not the hardcore style - so if you know you like this kind of music, you will like this album. Songs are not complicated or technical, we have bold guitar riffs and drums constantly smashing over them, the music has an easy groove to get into and bang your head to and also tracks like "For My Family" provide the opportunity to shout along to, this of course would be most poignant in the live environment. "Warriors" totals just over half an hour in length, half an hour of pure, unrelenting hardcore thrash, smashing drums and aggressive shouting. Nothing technical, nothing melodic here at all, but nothing extremely brutal either. "Warriors" is a typical album of its genre, so if this kind of music is for you then I probably did not even need to tell you to go and check it out.) 13.00
AKRON / FAMILY - Love Is Simple DLP (young god - *Vinyl finally in stock!* There's been no shortage of love for US collective Akron/Family over the last few years. Consistently named by Michael Gira as one of the best bands on the planet (so good in fact he snapped them up to be his own backing band...) they have been the darlings of the indie media and the perfect entry point for many listeners into a wide world of abstract folk and rock sounds. Okay so the whole New Weird America fad may have loosened a little over the last twelve months, but Akron/Family simply offer so much more than any pigeon-hole could ever suggest. 'Love is Simple' is the band's second album proper and follows the incredibly well-received extended EP 'Meek Warrior'. Firstly it's worth mentioning that "Love Is Simple" isn't a folk album, sure there are lines to be drawn which connect the record to folk music, but there are just as many (if not more) parallels with progressive rock, electronic music, singer/songwriter, country, psychedelic rock, even jazz - and yet everything is mixed effortlessly into a colour I've never really seen before. You see unlike so many recent albums, 'Love is Simple' isn't a record which hops from style to style, rather numerous influences seem to be rolled up into one unfathomable, glorious whole, into something that truly doesn't sound like anything or anyone else who comes to mind. Synthesizers bleat and rumble, percussion trickles and vocals (usually sung by most of the band) ring out like a choir of great friends getting together for a Sunday practice, beer in hand. This is a band that are clearly having a good time and in its simplicity they have created a record which is just as complex as the math-pop of Deerhoof or the post-rock of Tortoise, only immeasurably more alien. This is why it's hard to drop Akron/Family into a specific genre, their love for music comes across as all encompassing, and for a self confessed music lover like myself it feels like a real privilege to hear them work. A track like 'Lake Song/New Ceremonial Music for Moms' simply doesn't sound like anything else on the planet, and what starts out as some kind of devotional percussion-heavy folk/rock ditty gradually morphs into tribal chants before melting into textured ambience. The experience is closer to watching a movie than listening to an music and this bravery, this ability to make something so defiantly experimental sound so, well, listenable should shoot the band into the stratosphere if there's any justice in the world. With critical acclaim deservedly following Akron/Family wherever they go it would be easy to see the band as just 'the next big thing', but in all sincerity 'Love is Simple' is one of the year's most original, involving and pleasurable albums. Essential purchase.) 19.50
CROM the cocaine wars 1974 – 1989 LP (If Hellhammer had been born 10 years later as schizophrenic's with varied record collections, a mad fetish for samples and a Conan fixation, they might have been Crom. Seriously (and I'm not sure if any form of seriousness should be used in reference to this record) chaotic, definitely heavy and completely bizarre, this is probably the only "metal" record that could comfortably come out on Pessimiser Records. Sampling and straight rip coffees of everyone from Van Halen to Steely Dan, from the Debbie Brothers to Venom leap from your speakers as this disc careens through it's 30 tracks. Tucked away in the insanity are some good dome miffs. At times I really wanted to like this, but the vocals make it difficult. From hard-core shouting to downright annoying caterwauling the lyrics are mostly indecipherable. If ever a record needed a lyric sheet, it's this one, I'm definitely curious as to their content. The cover art is interesting and the production is serviceable (any better would not work for the content). If you took a lot of drugs and listened to this, it would permanently scar your psyche. Genius, Insanity and Stupidity have fine borders and Crom is all over the map. I'd recommend a listen but don't want to be held liable. vinyl limited to 300 copies only) 12.00
DAUGHTERS hell songs LP (hydra head - Rhode Island's Daughters practically invented sass-grind on their previous 7" and full length on Robotic Empire. "Hell Songs" is a cacophony of screaming guitars and blast-beat drums with heavy chugging breakdowns, with the band taking their clever attitudes on seemingly non-stop tours. Now available on vinyl.) 17.00
DEATH symbolic LP (roadrunner records - Rerelease of their hard to find 5th album) 15.00
ED GEIN Judas Goats And Dieseleaters LP (hex records - Ed Gein is fast, feral, and furious. Total insanity and politically/socially fueled lyrics accompanied by a mix of tech-metal, grindcore, and metalcore named after a serial killer. This is their debut album. Now available on vinyl with a gatefold cover.) 13.00
FILM SCHOOL hide out LP beggars banquet - Now on their third album, Film School return triumphantly to an indie scene that should by rights accommodate them with open arms. This is a band who've been ploughing a Nu-Gaze furrow for years now, and they clearly have no intention of doing much to upset their musical vision on Hideout. It's an early nineties revival from top to bottom in the best possible sense, dipping into space rock and shoegaze templates with garrulous abandon. The album seems to be punctuated with brief guitar interludes, based exclusively around these sorts of effects-laden noodlings, but for every washed-out 'Must Try Easier' there's a far more memorable track like 'Two Kinds', which hits the bypass switch on those stomp-boxes and sets off on a relatively unembellished, vastly more effective rock slant.) 16.50
THE GITS Frenching The Bully LP (broken rekids - A reissue of the 1992 debut album by Seattle punk favorites the GITS. Out of print since 1994, the album is a scorcher, rocked with vocalist MIA ZAPATA's great lyrics and deliveryócompared to Joe Strummer, P.J. Harvey, and Patti Smith. Includes all the tracks from the original release, along with two studio cuts and eight live songs added as a bonus. A film documentary about the band and Zapata will be showing in theaters shortly after the album's release.) 15.00
THE GITS enter... The Conquering Chicken LP (broken rekids - broken rekids - A reissue of the classic second album from Seattle punk faves the GITS, whose career was sadly ended by the murder of lead singer MIA ZAPATA. Originally released in 1993, the album has been remixed by producer JACK ENDINO, and expanded with nine bonus tracks, two of which are never-before-heard studio gems.) 15.00
HATE ETERNAL king of all kings Lp (earache records - long timeout of print record, this is from a warehousefind, s the covers look used, but the records not... The previous album, "Conquering The Throne" was quite an upset in the Death Metal world. HATE ETERNAL, led by MORBID ANGEL axeman Erik Rutan, and completed by guitarist Doug Cerrito (ex-SUFFOCATION), drummer Tim Yeung (AGIEL, AURORA BOREALIS) and on bass Jared Anderson, pulverised the masses with their brutal Death Metal attack. Now it's 3 years later and much has changed. Doug Cerrito has left, Tim Yeung has been replaced by drum-master Derek Roddy (NILE, MALEVOLENT CREATION, AURORA BOREALIS) and Jared Anderson had not only the honour to lead MORBID ANGEL on their "Gateways To Annihilation" tour, but also to release a spectacular album by his one-man band INTERNECINE. And to show HATE ETERNAL is not just a side-project, after years of MORBID ANGEL, Erik Rutan decide to focus all his attention on HATE ETERNAL. "King Of All Kings" was recorded and mixed in Erik Rutan's personal Mana Recording Studios, in Tampa, Florida. And similar to the INTERNECINE album, which was also recorded there, the overall sound of "King Of All Kings" will hit you like a crushing hammer. Where the previous album had the guitars more in the spotlight, the production on "King Of All Kings" is much more balanced. Of course it would be a crime to Metal to not be able to hear the inhuman slaughter of Derek Roddy, in my humble opinion the best drummer in the current Metal scene. Just combine his brutality with the bestial bass of Jared Anderson and the high speed, gutwrenching guitarplay of Erik Rutan and you get an idea of the sound of the new HATE ETERNAL album.) 12.50
INTELLIGENCE - Deuteronomy LP (in the red - f musicians painted images with their instruments, The Intelligence's soundscapes would be set in a grainy, ash-gray world, among piles of scrap metal and busted machinery, with discarded computer parts blinking in cobwebbed corners and factories belching out toxins at irregular intervals. The Intelligence is Lars Finberg, who got wellknown for being in the A-Frames, a one-man laboratory of intoxicating post-punk experimentation His music is so jagged and cinematically poetic and dusted in clouds of lo-fi noise that listening to it at different times can conjure completely different visions. Combining the fundamental elements of bands like The Fall and PIL with the serious pop sensibility of the Zombies and the early Bee Gee, Finberg has released his own little masterpiece with this album.) 13.00
JESU lifeline LP (hydra head - Quickly following the full-length "Conquero," Jesu return with another four songs of blessed-out, slowed down, heavy, distorted, spacey rock that they have become known for. One track features guest vocals from Jarboe of Swans adding to the cascade of sound. we got gold, gold/ black etc ... ask for colors) 16.50
JOAN AS POLICE WOMAN - Real Life LP (reveal - The stunning title track from Joan Wasser's heavily praised 2006 album gets a single release, just after the album itself got repackaged in a deluxe edition complete with a B-sides bonus disc. This material certainly deserves a second wind, and 'Real Life' in particular is a thing to be marvelled at. Apart from Wasser's chillingly beautiful vocal delivery, the sheer simplicity of the song's construction makes it feel like it's somehow floating in suspended animation, until halfway through a gradual swell of strings completes the picture in a suitably spine-tingling fashion.) 16.50
LES SAVY FAV lets stay friends LP (chunklet – US PRESS. just a few. Les Savvy Fav have got to rank as one of the finest rock bands working in the industry today. okay so this sentiment might be shared by the Gods of all things online Pitchfork, but really this is a time to believe the hype. Apart from having quite life-affirming live shows (where lead singer Tim Harrington has a tendency to get nekkid, oh yes) they actually have the songs to back this up. The band have actually been together since 1995, but now, over ten years later they're finally ready to commit their finest material to disc, and 'Let's Stay Friends' is easily the band's most consistent effort to date, just topping the fabulous 7" collection 'Inches' from a few years back. Something you've got to be aware of though is that this is rock music, this is real rock music, it's not trying to pander to any particular fashion, it just rocks. it's loud, it's got hooks, riffs. it's 'real' for want of a better word. Like the Pixies (who are probably the best point of comparison for the album), or the Talking Heads there is a propulsive rhythm section with drums beating on time and bass rumbling beneath, but it's those melodies and the urgency in the lyrics that keeps you coming back again and again. Just listen to Harrington's Frank Black-isms on album highlight 'Patty Lee', a party track for some other time and prepare to be amazed by the band's effortless ability to shake the walls down. It's the sort of music that's only a hair's breadth away from being cheesy, yet at no point does it ever cross the line - even when it breaches the murky world of disco or post-punk (as heard on the single 'What Would Wolves Do?') the record never loses credibility. For me this is the indie rock album of the year, defining the genre perfectly in 2007 and showing that there's still a need for good songwriting and crunchy guitars in the world. You won't be disappointed with 'Let's Stay Friends', that's for sure) 16.50
OLD TIME RELIJUN - Catharsis in Crisis LP (k records - Every fifteen seconds in America, Mississippi Delta and hill country blues are co-opted, mimicked, or re-invented by a bunch of white people with thrift-store guitars: Mercifully, Old Time Relijun, Olympia, Washington's mostly-bearded noise-blues quartet, have dismantled the form so thoroughly and recklessly that Catharsis in Crisis, their seventh LP, is less an homage than a passing nod. The record may steal bits and pieces from classic American idioms, but their clamor is all their own. Old Time Relijun have been recording for more than a decade, first forming in 1992 and signing to Calvin Johnson's K Records in 1995; since then, they've contributed to several compilations, released six albums and issued a mess of 7" singles. Mostly, OTR serves as a vehicle for frontman Arrington de Dionyso's bizarre avant-blues dirges: Members drift in and out (past drummers include the Microphones' Phil Elvrum and Jamie Peterson of Deerhoof side project the Curtains), but de Dionyso keeps writing confounding stompers and then recruiting his pals to help slam them out (the current lineup includes Aaron Hartman on upright bass, Ben Hartman on saxophone, and Germaine Bacca on drums). Produced by Steve Fisk, Catharsis in Crisis is the third and final installment in the band's self-proclaimed Lost Light Trilogy (preceded by 2004's Lost Light and 2005's 2012), and arguably their finest effort to date.) 13.50
SLEEPING PEOPLE - Growing LP (temporay residence - The ever-derided prog rock genre gets a kick up the derriere with this sophomore effort from US 4-piece Sleeping People. Featuring Prints/Tarentel/Pinback feller Kenseth Thibideau on bass Kasey Boekholt and Joileah Maddock duelling on guitars and Brandon Relf ably backing on drums there's a certain pedigree to uphold which the four piece pull off majestically. In fact the musicianship on the record is the first thing you notice while plunging into such epics as the seven-minute 'James Spader' (a track no doubt a tribute to the man best known for inserting his nether-regions into car accident wounds) as twin guitars crash and tumble through various 'movements', something like how Battles sounded before they shuffled into Warp speed. Angular, sometimes abrasive, indebted to Don Caballero and unafraid to lapse into a third act that sounds a little closer to Bebop Deluxe than most bands would allow this is sterling stuff and with just the kind of brazen attitude I love. I mean, prog shouldn't be a dirty word really and as far as I'm concerned writing instrumental epics like this shouldn't set Sleeping People into a position where they're solely lapped up by chin stroking vinyl fondlers (err... that'd be me then... right). Okay so we're mostly treated to the kind of fast, frenetic and powerful fret-workouts you hear on 'Yellow Guy / Pink Eye' and 'Grow Worm', but with variety coming from the 'Zuckerzeit'-era Cluster-esque '...Out Dream' and the Goblin-aping 'Underland' there should be enough on here to keep any self-confessed progressive mind more than content. An expansive listening experience, chalk another one up for Temporary Residence!) 16.50
SOUVENIRS YOUNG AMERICA - "An Ocean Without Water LP (crucial blast - Lush, shimmering guitar ambience and hypnotic, propulsive instrumental heaviness wind through the dusty highways and burnt twilight skies of "An Ocean Without Water," the sophomore album from Richmond's SOUVENIR'S YOUNG AMERICA. Divided into six flowing movements, "An Ocean Without Water" is filled with intensely beautiful melodies that drift on lonesome harmonica strains and sparkling, celestial electronics, shot through with mystic, western slide guitar, passages of crushing angular riffage, rolling tribal drumming, and transcendent blues. Through their intricate song arrangements and moody textures, SOUVENIR'S YOUNG AMERICA has created an epic, emotional narrative. The sound draws from the collected DNA of forebears like EARTH, LABRADFORD and NEUROSIS, yet they form a powerfully evocative instrumental language all of their own. Features collaborations with AUGHRA and Nick Forte (ex RORSCACH / BEAUTIFUL SKIN). The band has developed their sound even further with this new album, and one couldn't be more entranced with the epic, moody sounds that unfold over "An Ocean Without Water's" 40 minute running time. )16.00
SUNSET RUBDOWN - Random Spirit Lover DLP (jag jaguwar - Here's yet more Canadian rock to get very, very excited about. Sunset Rubdown's third album, Random Spirit Lover finds the band's main player, Spencer Krug (also of Wolf Parade and Frog Eyes) accompanied by fellow Montreal scenesters Jordan Robert Cramer, Michael Doerksen and Camilla Wynne Ingr, and by now a far cry from the project's bedroom beginnings, this latest full-length is one weighty tome. Complete with bizarre, rather impenetrable song titles like 'Up On Your Leopard, Upon The End Of Your Feral Days' the band put forth a compelling vision of ambitious, ornate indie rock music, rammed with clever, engaging lyrical ventures and poly-instrumental invention. In production terms Random Spirit Lover is comparable to the boldly stylised saturations of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's Dave Fridmann-produced Some Loud Thunder, but musically this is a more diverse affair. Tracks like 'The Mending Of The Gown' suggest an operatically scaled approximation of Destroyer (Krug and Danny Bejar share a stage as part of the Swan Lake project in fact) with its wordy, theatrical delivery, while 'For The Pier (And Dead Shimmering)' sports a flamboyant arrangement Van Dyke Parks would be proud of. There are so many musical ideas packed into the album's hour-or-so duration that at times it can all seem a bit disorientating, but given a few listens you'll find yourself starting to digest this splendorous experimental indie rock banquet. Very highly recommended.) 17.00
TEPHRA a modicum of truth 2xLP (riptide recordings - Tephra play a mix of hardcore, sludge and doom. Eyehategod,Neurosis and Isis are just some bands they were influenced by. Close listeners of the 'Aeolian' album by the German band The Ocean were already able to meet singer Ercüment Kasalar by the also German sludgecore act Tephra. Now, almost a year after that release, you can witness him in action again on Tephra's second record 'A Modicum Of Truth'. A band with such close ties to The Ocean must have a couple of musical favourites in common. There is no doubt at least one favourite band is shared among the two; the indie-hardcore band Breach. Tephra's full frontal hardcore attack takes on a very similar approach as these Swedish cult heroes, while even the quieter breaks remind of Breach with the same use of eerie xylophone sounds. If we did not know better we would even think this could be the comeback record of the Swedes, and that may count as a compliment. Alright, Tephra wil not earn the originality prize this month, but I do enjoy their record immensely. Ercüment definitely has one of the most brutal voices in the scene, and you can well hear that touring with Red Sparrowes and Tornavanche among others has turned this band into a tight collective. Through this 'A Modicum Of Truth' is a great record for anybody who loves the above mentioned bands. Yes, that sounds rather soft and critic-less, but hey; shoot me, I just can't get enough of this sound!) 17.50
WAIFLE The Music Stops, The Man Dies LP (magister ludi - Besides having one of the best names for an album I have ever heard, Waifle just kicks ass. They sound like a very heart-fealt and slightly more "rockin" Frail. They are from Virginia and they have been around for a while. This album is available on CD format from the Magic Bullet Records, which is run by Brent from Waifle. They may be touring more often nowadays, but they have a slew of projects going on all the time, so keep a look out for those. Waifle was Brent, Mark, Brian, and Chris at the time the album was recorded at Lets Rain Studios in Arlington in June of 1998 It was mastered for vinyl at John Golden Mastering. Suprise, suprise, no colored vinyl on this one either. Getting a pattern yet? The packaging is pretty nifty if I do say so myself. 28 by 12 chipboard scored into three panels, all screen printed. A vellum strip surrounds the chipboard when folded and is held together by a hand numbered (of 1000) vinyl sticker. Huge full-size booklet with words from Kent McClard from Ebullition and Christine from Slug N Lettuce (oh yeah, and me.) If you would like to learn more about them you should go to the Magic Bullet Records website or the Waifle website or just write them at waifle@hotmail.com. 1000 pressed.) 12.50
WOODEN WAND James & The Quiet LP (ecstatic peace - Since parting company with psych-folk backing group The Vanishing Voice, Wooden Wand's James Toth could so easily have turned out as another bog-standard singer-songwriter hiding behind a freaky improv entourage. Fortunately, last year's "Second Attention" album proved Toth as being more than able to make the distance based on songs alone, devoid of the twenty minute bin shed percussion workouts, or the clouds of lo-fi hiss that accompanied previous solo outings like Harem Of The Sundrum & Witness Figg. James & The Quiet finds Toth making a pretty comprehensive departure from his obscure beginnings, recruiting Sonic Youth's Steve Shelley and Lee Ranaldo as contributors (with Ranaldo even going so far as to take on production duties). The result of these raised stakes is arguably the clearest, most confident statement to have come from the Wooden Wand camp yet. Lyrically, Toth's writing continues in the vein of the quasi-religious weirdness that characterised Second Attention, but rather than sounding like an emission from some drugged-up hippy sect, this stuff has more in common with smarter, more outlandish, Dylan-esque lyrical outpourings. In fact, Dylan's influence is all over 'Spitting At The Camera', which benefits greatly from Jessica Toth's vocal harmonies and some simple yet effective chiming piano chords. It's all over in a painfully short two minutes, but there's much more to come, like the New Testament psych-country blues of 'We Must Also Love The Thieves' and the wonderful 'Invisible Children'. Ecstatic Peace seem to be especially good at facilitating leading lights of the American underground to come up with a standard of work they had hitherto only hinted at. In addition to this breathtakingly good Wooden Wand outing you can expect similarly bold developments from Magik Markers and MV/EE just around the corner. Significantly though, James & The Quiet confirms that these artists can break from their small scale DIY beginnings without having to trade in their underground sensibilities and outsider individualism. Highly recommended.) 14.50
X.0.4 - Cataracts LP (ecstatic peace - Lemme tell you now, you gotta turn this one up a bit. In my pile of Ecstatic Peace releases this week, X.o.4 was the one I knew least about - I mean, who the hell are they anyway? and when I put it on the turntable after Leslie Keffer's noise-a-thon 'Feels Like Frenching' I had to practically double the volume to hear what the hell was going on. Then, a few minutes later it all became clear just how good this record actually was... No surprise then that the calloused hands behind it are veterans of the scene and know how to make a drone or two - leading the bunch is guitarist Bill Nace, he of Vampire Belt/Vampire Can't fame (one of my favourite jams from last year) and he comes accompanied by John Truscinski and Jake Meginsky (aka Slaughterhouse Percussion). Between them the trio manage to make the kind of deep, subtle dronescapes that sound like they were recorded in an immense concrete-clad room, maybe miles across and possibly deep below the sea. In fact the processed bubbling and scraping occasionally reminds me of the early electronic ramblings you might find on the Creel Pone label or coming from the BBC Radiophonic workshop and also brings to mind Wolf Eyes' similarly quiet and menacing double LP 'River Slaughter' from last year. This aside though the X.o.4 gang have created a singular exploration into sub-aquatic scrape-scapes and I for one am left gasping for more - totally shocking music.) 14.50
CD
BLACK COBRA Feather And Stone CD (at al loss – 8 new tracks by ex 16, acid king etc...) 12.00
CLUTCH impetus CD (earache records - This is the re-release of the discontinued EP "Passive Restraints." The first 3 tracks were on the original EP, and the last 2 appeared on the Earache Records Compilation "Naive." "Pile Driver" is also on the "Pitchfork" 12 inch. The songs on Passive Restraints were my first taste of Clutch back in 1992 and it's still my favourite Clutch release of all time. It has more of a hardcore edge than their later stuff but it's still full-on Clutch through and through.) 11.00
DROWING WITH OUR ANCHORS demo CD (diy – brand new band from the bay area w/ josh from Bullets In, Burial Year etc ... epic mid 90ies heartfelt emo w/ lots of passion and tears like a used to be – all nicely packed ... wonderful - there will be 12inch on ADAGIO830 and an euro tour later next year) 3.50
FUR ELISE "the pines" cd-r (stickfigure - Fur Elise is Jeremy who also plays bass for Me and Him call it use. "I write songs and sing what's on my heart...More than what most people do nowadays. Maybe you'll find yourself in the songs. Thanks for listening." - Jeremy Influences include swans, sonic youth, a silver mt. zion, shannon wright, r.e.m., daniel johnston, mi and l'au, michael gira, ian curtis, david lynch and leonard cohen. Released February of 2007.) 4.00
OM - Pilgrimage CD (southern lord - Two thirds of drone-metal pioneers Sleep, Chris Hakius and Al Cisneros didn't exactly have to try too hard to get the press write about their latest project Om. With only drums and bass guitar the two proceeded to re-think the drone-metal/stoner rock genre and there couldn't have been a better time to do it, suddenly as if by accident the world had begun to appreciate 20 minutes drones, and while this might be down to Emusic's download policy, it left the door open for Om to take control of the scene. With two albums on their own Holy Mountain label the duo did just that, incorporating spiritual sounds, psychedelic rock and of course classic metal to create a droning symphony that captured the hearts of critics and musos everywhere. Obviously then there's been a fair bit of anticipation in regard to this latest full-length, especially since the duo have moved to the Southern Lord label, who right now seem to be hoovering up the best avant-metallers in the genre.) 15.00
v/a MASTERS OF MISERY black Sabbath coversong comp. CD (earache records -
awesome coversong compilation, all BLACK SABBATH covers done by: CATHEDRAL, SLEEP, GODFLESH, CONFESSOR, ANAL CUNT, FUDGE TUNNEL, OLD, BRUTAL TRUTH, ULTRAVIOLENCE, PITCH SHIFTER, SCORN, IRON MONKEY) 7.50
TAPE
PAINKILLER guts of a virgin tape ( earache records - original earache records tape of painkiller's first release this features john zorn ( naked city ) and mick harris ( napalm death, scorn )) 5.00
TSUKIMONO - BAT HEADS ROLL TAPE (release the bats - Tsukimono is the moniker of Johan Gustavsson, originally from the southern parts of Sweden but now residing in Gothenburg. Bat Heads Roll consists of two completely different pieces. The A-side is a live recording of a event that took place in the RTB livingroom 31/8-2007. We celebrated the last day of the summer and Tsukimono played a beautiful set in front of a crowd of maybe 25 people. Mainly driven by an analogue synth, Tsukimono used his whole palette and created something truly amazing this evening. Everything ends with a bang, and the last minute or so was unfortunately not caught on tape (play it LOUD and the abrupt ending will serve as a release from the harsh and abrassive last minute). A 28 minute journey into the realms of punk ambience and the eclectic Gothenburg scene of 2007. The B-side consists of a 19 minute long piece recorded the first week in October, monotonous and heavy synth drone and very different from the live recording in many ways. Fans of acts like Hive Mind and Emaciator should enjoy this. Limited to 50 tapes, screenprinted covers with artwork by Martin Helge. Pick this up and be sure to check out Tsukimonos other fine releases on labels such as Kallligrammofon and Kning Disk. PRESSING INFO! 50 tapes made. ) 6.50
Books/ Fanzines
COFFEESHOP CRUSHED Fanzine (3rd Edition! This is Nicole Georges & Jon Van Oast's compilation zine all about....you guessed it, coffeeshop crushes! Submissions from Nicole (Invincible Summer), Shannon Wheeler (Too Much Coffee Man), Shawn Granton (10' Rule), James Squeaky (Sincere Brutality), Lizz Zitron, Greig (Clutch), Aaron Renier (Spiral Bound), "Rainman", Nate Beaty (Brainfag), Brad Adkins (Charm Bracelet), as well as MANY anonymous pieces (go figure!). About half of this zine is comics and the other half is short stories. The most entertaining parts to me were the articles on the sexual nature of a few coffeeshops' webpages and a comic about a boy who worked in a coffee shop and his story that suddenly jumps into graphic sexual drawings and depictions. You already know you want this. Do yourself the favor.) 3.00
Making Stuff and Doing Things Book (microcosm -Kyle Bravo has assembled his HOW2 zines into a comprehensive book along with dozens of other instructional articles that tell you how to do...just about everything. Topics include getting active, direct action, gardening, making a woodstove, solar box cooker, egg replacer, how to make wine, homebrewing, liberated lifestyles, squats, homeschooling, fixing a toilet, audio phone patch, how to make envelopes, shoe repair, silk screening, making rubber stamps, how to juggle, magic tricks, making puppets, how to patch your clothes, putting utensils on your keychain, how to sing, bird feeders, how to play guitar, putting out records, billboard improvement, how to fix your bike, basic car maintenance, building a bike cart, how to take pride in your body, how to sexually stimulate your partner, diy birth control, how to handle an overdose, self defense, knowing your rights, how to live a more fulfilling life, unschooling, starting a fire with friction, making glue from pine sap, making rope, wild food, natural remedies, fire logs from newspapers, rubbing alcohol campstove, composting, diy toothpaste, getting rid of fruit flies, greywater systems, composting toliets, making hanging and floating tents, saving money at the post office, making posters and stencils, packing for tours, places to dumpster dive, making a tape wallet, building a cart-bike, cleaning stamps, blockprinting, fixing a harmonica, diy flowerpots, avoiding dangerous household chemicals, preventing ear infections, how women can pee standing up, menstrual massages, and a few pieces for inspiration. I'm sure you can see by now why this is essential. ISBN 0-9726967-9-2) 13.50
SKYSCRAPER #26 (Issue #26 of Skyscraper is packed to the gills with articles, interviews and features on bands like Bad Brains, Pissed Jeans, Black Cross, Torche, Gallows and tons more as well as the usual reviews and columns.) 5.00
2008 Slingshot Organizer, large size (Wow. This year we're the main distributor of Slingshot Organizers! Which makes us feel pretty darn lucky. For now, we have a limited selection of colors, but by the beginning of November, we'll have every color offered, so watch for that! For those who haven't seen a large Slingshot, it's a spiral-bound calendar and day planner. It includes space to write your phone numbers, a contact list of radical leftist groups around the globe, a menstrual calendar, info on police repression, and extra note pages to record all your important revolutionary ideas. It also lists popular activist and alternative cultural holidays. The highlight is how to say key phrases in multiple languages; phrases such as, "freedom and mutual aid," and "where is the library?" If this wasn't enough, it also serves as a fund-raiser for the Berkeley radical newspaper, SLINGSHOT.) 12.00
T-shirts
COMADRE courthouse T-shirt (blue shirt w/ mulit colored front and back print in YL,S,M,L) 12.50
Funeral Diner „birds“ T-shirt (brown american appararel t-shirt – S,M,L) 16.00
Ghostlimb „los angeles“ T-shirt (grey shirt w/ multi colored print in YL,M) 12.50
Graf Orlock aliens T-Shirt (blue shirt w/ multi colored printing in S,M,L) 12.50
Graf Orlock black metal T-shirt (black shirt w/ white front and back print in S,M,L) 12.50
Hot Cross „cyroincs“ T-Shirt (blue shirt w/ multi colored print in S,M,L) 16.00
LE SHOK same T-Shir (bad skulls – black shirt w/ blue print in S,M,L) 15.00
NEVER HEALED woodcut T-shirt (bad skulls - 2-sided white ink on black shirt S,M,L) 16.00
Saviours „warship“ T-shirt (bad skulls - Charcoal Ink on Black shirt in S,M,L) 15.00
Vss logo T-Shirt (bad skulls – black shirt w/ white printing S/M/L) 15.00
Rare stuff
400 YEARS suture LP (great american steak religion) 17.00
Gray Matter thog LP (dischord)18.00
PIEBALD sometimes friends fight 10" 20.00
RUHAEDA same LP (level plane) 17.00
TEAM DRESCH personal best LP 15.00
up next
LVMEN anthology DLP
new not not fun stuff
OM pilgrimage LP
etc etc
We got some nice new records for the mailorder like the new LES SAVY FAV LP as a limited US press, the new JESU lifeline 12inch in tons of different colors, the latest DAUGHTERS LP on vinyl etc etc.
We are waiting to get the MINION LP and the DAITRO/ SED NON SATIATA split LP from the pressing plant in the next two weeks.
So far so good. We gonna make some coffee and wait for you orders to come in Smilie
mailorder@bisaufsmesser.com
http://www.bisaufsmesser.com/store
I hope you are all doing good
later
stefan & robert
7“
CHUCK RAGAN work the bank 7” ( hometown caravan - Limited euro tour 7”) 5,00
STRIBORG / SCURSHAHOR split 7" (southern lord – limited split 7inch – black metal and limited) 6.50
WARWOLF (level – plane - Holy shit, it actually came out! The debut recordings from the Austin, Texas powerhouse WARWOLF, featuring former dudes from the legendary EMPLOYER, EMPLOYEE! This is absolutely relentless and couldn't be much more recommended. Absolutely raging hardcore fury, with unholy amounts of distortion, some underlying melody and a bit of metal and punk elements thrown in for taste... but WARWOLF is out for blood and that's what this brutal 7" delivers. SO good, this really is borderline essential!) 5.00
10inch
PLACE OF SKULLS love through blood 10" (blood and iron records -
Limited to 500 copies Well, here it is. The posthumous, final Place of Skulls release. While they only released two full-length albums – 2002’s Nailed and 2004’s With Vision (which featured Scott “Wino” Weinrich) – they were a band whose influence was immediate and profound. Listening to this four song EP, it’s easy to lament the band’s passing. Love Through Blood is very much a eulogy. First, it’s the band’s sound. Place of Skulls have always been situated firmly in the traditional doom camp, and like The Obsessed, Pentagram, or St Vitus, they craft songs that are equal parts melancholy and dread. What gives Place of Skulls distinction is their use of melody, which has always been more prevalent than with their contemporaries. On Love Through Blood, the melody is accented by acoustic guitars and more reflective passages. It may not be as doomy as prior releases, but it has more of an emotional heft. Second, the religious dogma that is a distinct part of Place of Skulls is more in the forefront on these four songs. Vocalist/guitarist Victor Griffin has never shied away from his Christian beliefs, but “Consuming Fire,” “Cornerstone,” “Days of Trouble,” and “Blood of Jesus” don’t cloak his convictions in metaphors. Whether you agree with his beliefs or not, these personal testimonies add gravitas.) 13.00
THANK GOD/ MONARCHS split 10" (mashnote / Yep, two bands, 6 songs, and a whole lot of musical pleasure. Monarcs carry on playing their blend of melancholic riffing and tight beats. Thank God are crazy frantic and yet ready to lure you in with twisted lullabies. And now for the namedropping... Monarcs are ex-Tunes for Bears to Dance to, and has members of Capsule. Thank God are ex-Antischism and ex-Guyana Punch Line. ) 9.50
LP
AGNOSTIC FRONT warriors LP (nuclear blast records -limited coloured vinyl edt. # / 1000 Many people claim bands are either love them or hate them bands, but this cannot be applied better than it is to Agnostic Front. This band will have a devoted core of fans passionate about this kind of smash-mouth music, but also there will be a good percentage of people out there that know this is just not for them. Agnostic Front have just that, a very raw and aggressive front - this is very much metal for heavily tattooed bald people who like to fight as the front cover of the album makes sure you understand before picking it up. This is hardcore thrash metal and it is good quality hardcore thrash metal as well. "Warriors" explodes right from the beginning with a flurry of double bass drumming with "Addiction", accompanied by typical hardcore style guitar riffs and the shouting, hostile vocals of Roger Miret. If the very style of Agnostic Front does not put off then the almost strange, overly threatening vocals might do the trick - still, a few songs in and everything becomes normal. In true hardcore style the songs are hardly epic opuses, the longest song on the album is just over three minutes, the average song length is probably around the two minutes area. The lyrics do not touch on any deep, emotional matters, but again this is not the hardcore style - so if you know you like this kind of music, you will like this album. Songs are not complicated or technical, we have bold guitar riffs and drums constantly smashing over them, the music has an easy groove to get into and bang your head to and also tracks like "For My Family" provide the opportunity to shout along to, this of course would be most poignant in the live environment. "Warriors" totals just over half an hour in length, half an hour of pure, unrelenting hardcore thrash, smashing drums and aggressive shouting. Nothing technical, nothing melodic here at all, but nothing extremely brutal either. "Warriors" is a typical album of its genre, so if this kind of music is for you then I probably did not even need to tell you to go and check it out.) 13.00
AKRON / FAMILY - Love Is Simple DLP (young god - *Vinyl finally in stock!* There's been no shortage of love for US collective Akron/Family over the last few years. Consistently named by Michael Gira as one of the best bands on the planet (so good in fact he snapped them up to be his own backing band...) they have been the darlings of the indie media and the perfect entry point for many listeners into a wide world of abstract folk and rock sounds. Okay so the whole New Weird America fad may have loosened a little over the last twelve months, but Akron/Family simply offer so much more than any pigeon-hole could ever suggest. 'Love is Simple' is the band's second album proper and follows the incredibly well-received extended EP 'Meek Warrior'. Firstly it's worth mentioning that "Love Is Simple" isn't a folk album, sure there are lines to be drawn which connect the record to folk music, but there are just as many (if not more) parallels with progressive rock, electronic music, singer/songwriter, country, psychedelic rock, even jazz - and yet everything is mixed effortlessly into a colour I've never really seen before. You see unlike so many recent albums, 'Love is Simple' isn't a record which hops from style to style, rather numerous influences seem to be rolled up into one unfathomable, glorious whole, into something that truly doesn't sound like anything or anyone else who comes to mind. Synthesizers bleat and rumble, percussion trickles and vocals (usually sung by most of the band) ring out like a choir of great friends getting together for a Sunday practice, beer in hand. This is a band that are clearly having a good time and in its simplicity they have created a record which is just as complex as the math-pop of Deerhoof or the post-rock of Tortoise, only immeasurably more alien. This is why it's hard to drop Akron/Family into a specific genre, their love for music comes across as all encompassing, and for a self confessed music lover like myself it feels like a real privilege to hear them work. A track like 'Lake Song/New Ceremonial Music for Moms' simply doesn't sound like anything else on the planet, and what starts out as some kind of devotional percussion-heavy folk/rock ditty gradually morphs into tribal chants before melting into textured ambience. The experience is closer to watching a movie than listening to an music and this bravery, this ability to make something so defiantly experimental sound so, well, listenable should shoot the band into the stratosphere if there's any justice in the world. With critical acclaim deservedly following Akron/Family wherever they go it would be easy to see the band as just 'the next big thing', but in all sincerity 'Love is Simple' is one of the year's most original, involving and pleasurable albums. Essential purchase.) 19.50
CROM the cocaine wars 1974 – 1989 LP (If Hellhammer had been born 10 years later as schizophrenic's with varied record collections, a mad fetish for samples and a Conan fixation, they might have been Crom. Seriously (and I'm not sure if any form of seriousness should be used in reference to this record) chaotic, definitely heavy and completely bizarre, this is probably the only "metal" record that could comfortably come out on Pessimiser Records. Sampling and straight rip coffees of everyone from Van Halen to Steely Dan, from the Debbie Brothers to Venom leap from your speakers as this disc careens through it's 30 tracks. Tucked away in the insanity are some good dome miffs. At times I really wanted to like this, but the vocals make it difficult. From hard-core shouting to downright annoying caterwauling the lyrics are mostly indecipherable. If ever a record needed a lyric sheet, it's this one, I'm definitely curious as to their content. The cover art is interesting and the production is serviceable (any better would not work for the content). If you took a lot of drugs and listened to this, it would permanently scar your psyche. Genius, Insanity and Stupidity have fine borders and Crom is all over the map. I'd recommend a listen but don't want to be held liable. vinyl limited to 300 copies only) 12.00
DAUGHTERS hell songs LP (hydra head - Rhode Island's Daughters practically invented sass-grind on their previous 7" and full length on Robotic Empire. "Hell Songs" is a cacophony of screaming guitars and blast-beat drums with heavy chugging breakdowns, with the band taking their clever attitudes on seemingly non-stop tours. Now available on vinyl.) 17.00
DEATH symbolic LP (roadrunner records - Rerelease of their hard to find 5th album) 15.00
ED GEIN Judas Goats And Dieseleaters LP (hex records - Ed Gein is fast, feral, and furious. Total insanity and politically/socially fueled lyrics accompanied by a mix of tech-metal, grindcore, and metalcore named after a serial killer. This is their debut album. Now available on vinyl with a gatefold cover.) 13.00
FILM SCHOOL hide out LP beggars banquet - Now on their third album, Film School return triumphantly to an indie scene that should by rights accommodate them with open arms. This is a band who've been ploughing a Nu-Gaze furrow for years now, and they clearly have no intention of doing much to upset their musical vision on Hideout. It's an early nineties revival from top to bottom in the best possible sense, dipping into space rock and shoegaze templates with garrulous abandon. The album seems to be punctuated with brief guitar interludes, based exclusively around these sorts of effects-laden noodlings, but for every washed-out 'Must Try Easier' there's a far more memorable track like 'Two Kinds', which hits the bypass switch on those stomp-boxes and sets off on a relatively unembellished, vastly more effective rock slant.) 16.50
THE GITS Frenching The Bully LP (broken rekids - A reissue of the 1992 debut album by Seattle punk favorites the GITS. Out of print since 1994, the album is a scorcher, rocked with vocalist MIA ZAPATA's great lyrics and deliveryócompared to Joe Strummer, P.J. Harvey, and Patti Smith. Includes all the tracks from the original release, along with two studio cuts and eight live songs added as a bonus. A film documentary about the band and Zapata will be showing in theaters shortly after the album's release.) 15.00
THE GITS enter... The Conquering Chicken LP (broken rekids - broken rekids - A reissue of the classic second album from Seattle punk faves the GITS, whose career was sadly ended by the murder of lead singer MIA ZAPATA. Originally released in 1993, the album has been remixed by producer JACK ENDINO, and expanded with nine bonus tracks, two of which are never-before-heard studio gems.) 15.00
HATE ETERNAL king of all kings Lp (earache records - long timeout of print record, this is from a warehousefind, s the covers look used, but the records not... The previous album, "Conquering The Throne" was quite an upset in the Death Metal world. HATE ETERNAL, led by MORBID ANGEL axeman Erik Rutan, and completed by guitarist Doug Cerrito (ex-SUFFOCATION), drummer Tim Yeung (AGIEL, AURORA BOREALIS) and on bass Jared Anderson, pulverised the masses with their brutal Death Metal attack. Now it's 3 years later and much has changed. Doug Cerrito has left, Tim Yeung has been replaced by drum-master Derek Roddy (NILE, MALEVOLENT CREATION, AURORA BOREALIS) and Jared Anderson had not only the honour to lead MORBID ANGEL on their "Gateways To Annihilation" tour, but also to release a spectacular album by his one-man band INTERNECINE. And to show HATE ETERNAL is not just a side-project, after years of MORBID ANGEL, Erik Rutan decide to focus all his attention on HATE ETERNAL. "King Of All Kings" was recorded and mixed in Erik Rutan's personal Mana Recording Studios, in Tampa, Florida. And similar to the INTERNECINE album, which was also recorded there, the overall sound of "King Of All Kings" will hit you like a crushing hammer. Where the previous album had the guitars more in the spotlight, the production on "King Of All Kings" is much more balanced. Of course it would be a crime to Metal to not be able to hear the inhuman slaughter of Derek Roddy, in my humble opinion the best drummer in the current Metal scene. Just combine his brutality with the bestial bass of Jared Anderson and the high speed, gutwrenching guitarplay of Erik Rutan and you get an idea of the sound of the new HATE ETERNAL album.) 12.50
INTELLIGENCE - Deuteronomy LP (in the red - f musicians painted images with their instruments, The Intelligence's soundscapes would be set in a grainy, ash-gray world, among piles of scrap metal and busted machinery, with discarded computer parts blinking in cobwebbed corners and factories belching out toxins at irregular intervals. The Intelligence is Lars Finberg, who got wellknown for being in the A-Frames, a one-man laboratory of intoxicating post-punk experimentation His music is so jagged and cinematically poetic and dusted in clouds of lo-fi noise that listening to it at different times can conjure completely different visions. Combining the fundamental elements of bands like The Fall and PIL with the serious pop sensibility of the Zombies and the early Bee Gee, Finberg has released his own little masterpiece with this album.) 13.00
JESU lifeline LP (hydra head - Quickly following the full-length "Conquero," Jesu return with another four songs of blessed-out, slowed down, heavy, distorted, spacey rock that they have become known for. One track features guest vocals from Jarboe of Swans adding to the cascade of sound. we got gold, gold/ black etc ... ask for colors) 16.50
JOAN AS POLICE WOMAN - Real Life LP (reveal - The stunning title track from Joan Wasser's heavily praised 2006 album gets a single release, just after the album itself got repackaged in a deluxe edition complete with a B-sides bonus disc. This material certainly deserves a second wind, and 'Real Life' in particular is a thing to be marvelled at. Apart from Wasser's chillingly beautiful vocal delivery, the sheer simplicity of the song's construction makes it feel like it's somehow floating in suspended animation, until halfway through a gradual swell of strings completes the picture in a suitably spine-tingling fashion.) 16.50
LES SAVY FAV lets stay friends LP (chunklet – US PRESS. just a few. Les Savvy Fav have got to rank as one of the finest rock bands working in the industry today. okay so this sentiment might be shared by the Gods of all things online Pitchfork, but really this is a time to believe the hype. Apart from having quite life-affirming live shows (where lead singer Tim Harrington has a tendency to get nekkid, oh yes) they actually have the songs to back this up. The band have actually been together since 1995, but now, over ten years later they're finally ready to commit their finest material to disc, and 'Let's Stay Friends' is easily the band's most consistent effort to date, just topping the fabulous 7" collection 'Inches' from a few years back. Something you've got to be aware of though is that this is rock music, this is real rock music, it's not trying to pander to any particular fashion, it just rocks. it's loud, it's got hooks, riffs. it's 'real' for want of a better word. Like the Pixies (who are probably the best point of comparison for the album), or the Talking Heads there is a propulsive rhythm section with drums beating on time and bass rumbling beneath, but it's those melodies and the urgency in the lyrics that keeps you coming back again and again. Just listen to Harrington's Frank Black-isms on album highlight 'Patty Lee', a party track for some other time and prepare to be amazed by the band's effortless ability to shake the walls down. It's the sort of music that's only a hair's breadth away from being cheesy, yet at no point does it ever cross the line - even when it breaches the murky world of disco or post-punk (as heard on the single 'What Would Wolves Do?') the record never loses credibility. For me this is the indie rock album of the year, defining the genre perfectly in 2007 and showing that there's still a need for good songwriting and crunchy guitars in the world. You won't be disappointed with 'Let's Stay Friends', that's for sure) 16.50
OLD TIME RELIJUN - Catharsis in Crisis LP (k records - Every fifteen seconds in America, Mississippi Delta and hill country blues are co-opted, mimicked, or re-invented by a bunch of white people with thrift-store guitars: Mercifully, Old Time Relijun, Olympia, Washington's mostly-bearded noise-blues quartet, have dismantled the form so thoroughly and recklessly that Catharsis in Crisis, their seventh LP, is less an homage than a passing nod. The record may steal bits and pieces from classic American idioms, but their clamor is all their own. Old Time Relijun have been recording for more than a decade, first forming in 1992 and signing to Calvin Johnson's K Records in 1995; since then, they've contributed to several compilations, released six albums and issued a mess of 7" singles. Mostly, OTR serves as a vehicle for frontman Arrington de Dionyso's bizarre avant-blues dirges: Members drift in and out (past drummers include the Microphones' Phil Elvrum and Jamie Peterson of Deerhoof side project the Curtains), but de Dionyso keeps writing confounding stompers and then recruiting his pals to help slam them out (the current lineup includes Aaron Hartman on upright bass, Ben Hartman on saxophone, and Germaine Bacca on drums). Produced by Steve Fisk, Catharsis in Crisis is the third and final installment in the band's self-proclaimed Lost Light Trilogy (preceded by 2004's Lost Light and 2005's 2012), and arguably their finest effort to date.) 13.50
SLEEPING PEOPLE - Growing LP (temporay residence - The ever-derided prog rock genre gets a kick up the derriere with this sophomore effort from US 4-piece Sleeping People. Featuring Prints/Tarentel/Pinback feller Kenseth Thibideau on bass Kasey Boekholt and Joileah Maddock duelling on guitars and Brandon Relf ably backing on drums there's a certain pedigree to uphold which the four piece pull off majestically. In fact the musicianship on the record is the first thing you notice while plunging into such epics as the seven-minute 'James Spader' (a track no doubt a tribute to the man best known for inserting his nether-regions into car accident wounds) as twin guitars crash and tumble through various 'movements', something like how Battles sounded before they shuffled into Warp speed. Angular, sometimes abrasive, indebted to Don Caballero and unafraid to lapse into a third act that sounds a little closer to Bebop Deluxe than most bands would allow this is sterling stuff and with just the kind of brazen attitude I love. I mean, prog shouldn't be a dirty word really and as far as I'm concerned writing instrumental epics like this shouldn't set Sleeping People into a position where they're solely lapped up by chin stroking vinyl fondlers (err... that'd be me then... right). Okay so we're mostly treated to the kind of fast, frenetic and powerful fret-workouts you hear on 'Yellow Guy / Pink Eye' and 'Grow Worm', but with variety coming from the 'Zuckerzeit'-era Cluster-esque '...Out Dream' and the Goblin-aping 'Underland' there should be enough on here to keep any self-confessed progressive mind more than content. An expansive listening experience, chalk another one up for Temporary Residence!) 16.50
SOUVENIRS YOUNG AMERICA - "An Ocean Without Water LP (crucial blast - Lush, shimmering guitar ambience and hypnotic, propulsive instrumental heaviness wind through the dusty highways and burnt twilight skies of "An Ocean Without Water," the sophomore album from Richmond's SOUVENIR'S YOUNG AMERICA. Divided into six flowing movements, "An Ocean Without Water" is filled with intensely beautiful melodies that drift on lonesome harmonica strains and sparkling, celestial electronics, shot through with mystic, western slide guitar, passages of crushing angular riffage, rolling tribal drumming, and transcendent blues. Through their intricate song arrangements and moody textures, SOUVENIR'S YOUNG AMERICA has created an epic, emotional narrative. The sound draws from the collected DNA of forebears like EARTH, LABRADFORD and NEUROSIS, yet they form a powerfully evocative instrumental language all of their own. Features collaborations with AUGHRA and Nick Forte (ex RORSCACH / BEAUTIFUL SKIN). The band has developed their sound even further with this new album, and one couldn't be more entranced with the epic, moody sounds that unfold over "An Ocean Without Water's" 40 minute running time. )16.00
SUNSET RUBDOWN - Random Spirit Lover DLP (jag jaguwar - Here's yet more Canadian rock to get very, very excited about. Sunset Rubdown's third album, Random Spirit Lover finds the band's main player, Spencer Krug (also of Wolf Parade and Frog Eyes) accompanied by fellow Montreal scenesters Jordan Robert Cramer, Michael Doerksen and Camilla Wynne Ingr, and by now a far cry from the project's bedroom beginnings, this latest full-length is one weighty tome. Complete with bizarre, rather impenetrable song titles like 'Up On Your Leopard, Upon The End Of Your Feral Days' the band put forth a compelling vision of ambitious, ornate indie rock music, rammed with clever, engaging lyrical ventures and poly-instrumental invention. In production terms Random Spirit Lover is comparable to the boldly stylised saturations of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's Dave Fridmann-produced Some Loud Thunder, but musically this is a more diverse affair. Tracks like 'The Mending Of The Gown' suggest an operatically scaled approximation of Destroyer (Krug and Danny Bejar share a stage as part of the Swan Lake project in fact) with its wordy, theatrical delivery, while 'For The Pier (And Dead Shimmering)' sports a flamboyant arrangement Van Dyke Parks would be proud of. There are so many musical ideas packed into the album's hour-or-so duration that at times it can all seem a bit disorientating, but given a few listens you'll find yourself starting to digest this splendorous experimental indie rock banquet. Very highly recommended.) 17.00
TEPHRA a modicum of truth 2xLP (riptide recordings - Tephra play a mix of hardcore, sludge and doom. Eyehategod,Neurosis and Isis are just some bands they were influenced by. Close listeners of the 'Aeolian' album by the German band The Ocean were already able to meet singer Ercüment Kasalar by the also German sludgecore act Tephra. Now, almost a year after that release, you can witness him in action again on Tephra's second record 'A Modicum Of Truth'. A band with such close ties to The Ocean must have a couple of musical favourites in common. There is no doubt at least one favourite band is shared among the two; the indie-hardcore band Breach. Tephra's full frontal hardcore attack takes on a very similar approach as these Swedish cult heroes, while even the quieter breaks remind of Breach with the same use of eerie xylophone sounds. If we did not know better we would even think this could be the comeback record of the Swedes, and that may count as a compliment. Alright, Tephra wil not earn the originality prize this month, but I do enjoy their record immensely. Ercüment definitely has one of the most brutal voices in the scene, and you can well hear that touring with Red Sparrowes and Tornavanche among others has turned this band into a tight collective. Through this 'A Modicum Of Truth' is a great record for anybody who loves the above mentioned bands. Yes, that sounds rather soft and critic-less, but hey; shoot me, I just can't get enough of this sound!) 17.50
WAIFLE The Music Stops, The Man Dies LP (magister ludi - Besides having one of the best names for an album I have ever heard, Waifle just kicks ass. They sound like a very heart-fealt and slightly more "rockin" Frail. They are from Virginia and they have been around for a while. This album is available on CD format from the Magic Bullet Records, which is run by Brent from Waifle. They may be touring more often nowadays, but they have a slew of projects going on all the time, so keep a look out for those. Waifle was Brent, Mark, Brian, and Chris at the time the album was recorded at Lets Rain Studios in Arlington in June of 1998 It was mastered for vinyl at John Golden Mastering. Suprise, suprise, no colored vinyl on this one either. Getting a pattern yet? The packaging is pretty nifty if I do say so myself. 28 by 12 chipboard scored into three panels, all screen printed. A vellum strip surrounds the chipboard when folded and is held together by a hand numbered (of 1000) vinyl sticker. Huge full-size booklet with words from Kent McClard from Ebullition and Christine from Slug N Lettuce (oh yeah, and me.) If you would like to learn more about them you should go to the Magic Bullet Records website or the Waifle website or just write them at waifle@hotmail.com. 1000 pressed.) 12.50
WOODEN WAND James & The Quiet LP (ecstatic peace - Since parting company with psych-folk backing group The Vanishing Voice, Wooden Wand's James Toth could so easily have turned out as another bog-standard singer-songwriter hiding behind a freaky improv entourage. Fortunately, last year's "Second Attention" album proved Toth as being more than able to make the distance based on songs alone, devoid of the twenty minute bin shed percussion workouts, or the clouds of lo-fi hiss that accompanied previous solo outings like Harem Of The Sundrum & Witness Figg. James & The Quiet finds Toth making a pretty comprehensive departure from his obscure beginnings, recruiting Sonic Youth's Steve Shelley and Lee Ranaldo as contributors (with Ranaldo even going so far as to take on production duties). The result of these raised stakes is arguably the clearest, most confident statement to have come from the Wooden Wand camp yet. Lyrically, Toth's writing continues in the vein of the quasi-religious weirdness that characterised Second Attention, but rather than sounding like an emission from some drugged-up hippy sect, this stuff has more in common with smarter, more outlandish, Dylan-esque lyrical outpourings. In fact, Dylan's influence is all over 'Spitting At The Camera', which benefits greatly from Jessica Toth's vocal harmonies and some simple yet effective chiming piano chords. It's all over in a painfully short two minutes, but there's much more to come, like the New Testament psych-country blues of 'We Must Also Love The Thieves' and the wonderful 'Invisible Children'. Ecstatic Peace seem to be especially good at facilitating leading lights of the American underground to come up with a standard of work they had hitherto only hinted at. In addition to this breathtakingly good Wooden Wand outing you can expect similarly bold developments from Magik Markers and MV/EE just around the corner. Significantly though, James & The Quiet confirms that these artists can break from their small scale DIY beginnings without having to trade in their underground sensibilities and outsider individualism. Highly recommended.) 14.50
X.0.4 - Cataracts LP (ecstatic peace - Lemme tell you now, you gotta turn this one up a bit. In my pile of Ecstatic Peace releases this week, X.o.4 was the one I knew least about - I mean, who the hell are they anyway? and when I put it on the turntable after Leslie Keffer's noise-a-thon 'Feels Like Frenching' I had to practically double the volume to hear what the hell was going on. Then, a few minutes later it all became clear just how good this record actually was... No surprise then that the calloused hands behind it are veterans of the scene and know how to make a drone or two - leading the bunch is guitarist Bill Nace, he of Vampire Belt/Vampire Can't fame (one of my favourite jams from last year) and he comes accompanied by John Truscinski and Jake Meginsky (aka Slaughterhouse Percussion). Between them the trio manage to make the kind of deep, subtle dronescapes that sound like they were recorded in an immense concrete-clad room, maybe miles across and possibly deep below the sea. In fact the processed bubbling and scraping occasionally reminds me of the early electronic ramblings you might find on the Creel Pone label or coming from the BBC Radiophonic workshop and also brings to mind Wolf Eyes' similarly quiet and menacing double LP 'River Slaughter' from last year. This aside though the X.o.4 gang have created a singular exploration into sub-aquatic scrape-scapes and I for one am left gasping for more - totally shocking music.) 14.50
CD
BLACK COBRA Feather And Stone CD (at al loss – 8 new tracks by ex 16, acid king etc...) 12.00
CLUTCH impetus CD (earache records - This is the re-release of the discontinued EP "Passive Restraints." The first 3 tracks were on the original EP, and the last 2 appeared on the Earache Records Compilation "Naive." "Pile Driver" is also on the "Pitchfork" 12 inch. The songs on Passive Restraints were my first taste of Clutch back in 1992 and it's still my favourite Clutch release of all time. It has more of a hardcore edge than their later stuff but it's still full-on Clutch through and through.) 11.00
DROWING WITH OUR ANCHORS demo CD (diy – brand new band from the bay area w/ josh from Bullets In, Burial Year etc ... epic mid 90ies heartfelt emo w/ lots of passion and tears like a used to be – all nicely packed ... wonderful - there will be 12inch on ADAGIO830 and an euro tour later next year) 3.50
FUR ELISE "the pines" cd-r (stickfigure - Fur Elise is Jeremy who also plays bass for Me and Him call it use. "I write songs and sing what's on my heart...More than what most people do nowadays. Maybe you'll find yourself in the songs. Thanks for listening." - Jeremy Influences include swans, sonic youth, a silver mt. zion, shannon wright, r.e.m., daniel johnston, mi and l'au, michael gira, ian curtis, david lynch and leonard cohen. Released February of 2007.) 4.00
OM - Pilgrimage CD (southern lord - Two thirds of drone-metal pioneers Sleep, Chris Hakius and Al Cisneros didn't exactly have to try too hard to get the press write about their latest project Om. With only drums and bass guitar the two proceeded to re-think the drone-metal/stoner rock genre and there couldn't have been a better time to do it, suddenly as if by accident the world had begun to appreciate 20 minutes drones, and while this might be down to Emusic's download policy, it left the door open for Om to take control of the scene. With two albums on their own Holy Mountain label the duo did just that, incorporating spiritual sounds, psychedelic rock and of course classic metal to create a droning symphony that captured the hearts of critics and musos everywhere. Obviously then there's been a fair bit of anticipation in regard to this latest full-length, especially since the duo have moved to the Southern Lord label, who right now seem to be hoovering up the best avant-metallers in the genre.) 15.00
v/a MASTERS OF MISERY black Sabbath coversong comp. CD (earache records -
awesome coversong compilation, all BLACK SABBATH covers done by: CATHEDRAL, SLEEP, GODFLESH, CONFESSOR, ANAL CUNT, FUDGE TUNNEL, OLD, BRUTAL TRUTH, ULTRAVIOLENCE, PITCH SHIFTER, SCORN, IRON MONKEY) 7.50
TAPE
PAINKILLER guts of a virgin tape ( earache records - original earache records tape of painkiller's first release this features john zorn ( naked city ) and mick harris ( napalm death, scorn )) 5.00
TSUKIMONO - BAT HEADS ROLL TAPE (release the bats - Tsukimono is the moniker of Johan Gustavsson, originally from the southern parts of Sweden but now residing in Gothenburg. Bat Heads Roll consists of two completely different pieces. The A-side is a live recording of a event that took place in the RTB livingroom 31/8-2007. We celebrated the last day of the summer and Tsukimono played a beautiful set in front of a crowd of maybe 25 people. Mainly driven by an analogue synth, Tsukimono used his whole palette and created something truly amazing this evening. Everything ends with a bang, and the last minute or so was unfortunately not caught on tape (play it LOUD and the abrupt ending will serve as a release from the harsh and abrassive last minute). A 28 minute journey into the realms of punk ambience and the eclectic Gothenburg scene of 2007. The B-side consists of a 19 minute long piece recorded the first week in October, monotonous and heavy synth drone and very different from the live recording in many ways. Fans of acts like Hive Mind and Emaciator should enjoy this. Limited to 50 tapes, screenprinted covers with artwork by Martin Helge. Pick this up and be sure to check out Tsukimonos other fine releases on labels such as Kallligrammofon and Kning Disk. PRESSING INFO! 50 tapes made. ) 6.50
Books/ Fanzines
COFFEESHOP CRUSHED Fanzine (3rd Edition! This is Nicole Georges & Jon Van Oast's compilation zine all about....you guessed it, coffeeshop crushes! Submissions from Nicole (Invincible Summer), Shannon Wheeler (Too Much Coffee Man), Shawn Granton (10' Rule), James Squeaky (Sincere Brutality), Lizz Zitron, Greig (Clutch), Aaron Renier (Spiral Bound), "Rainman", Nate Beaty (Brainfag), Brad Adkins (Charm Bracelet), as well as MANY anonymous pieces (go figure!). About half of this zine is comics and the other half is short stories. The most entertaining parts to me were the articles on the sexual nature of a few coffeeshops' webpages and a comic about a boy who worked in a coffee shop and his story that suddenly jumps into graphic sexual drawings and depictions. You already know you want this. Do yourself the favor.) 3.00
Making Stuff and Doing Things Book (microcosm -Kyle Bravo has assembled his HOW2 zines into a comprehensive book along with dozens of other instructional articles that tell you how to do...just about everything. Topics include getting active, direct action, gardening, making a woodstove, solar box cooker, egg replacer, how to make wine, homebrewing, liberated lifestyles, squats, homeschooling, fixing a toilet, audio phone patch, how to make envelopes, shoe repair, silk screening, making rubber stamps, how to juggle, magic tricks, making puppets, how to patch your clothes, putting utensils on your keychain, how to sing, bird feeders, how to play guitar, putting out records, billboard improvement, how to fix your bike, basic car maintenance, building a bike cart, how to take pride in your body, how to sexually stimulate your partner, diy birth control, how to handle an overdose, self defense, knowing your rights, how to live a more fulfilling life, unschooling, starting a fire with friction, making glue from pine sap, making rope, wild food, natural remedies, fire logs from newspapers, rubbing alcohol campstove, composting, diy toothpaste, getting rid of fruit flies, greywater systems, composting toliets, making hanging and floating tents, saving money at the post office, making posters and stencils, packing for tours, places to dumpster dive, making a tape wallet, building a cart-bike, cleaning stamps, blockprinting, fixing a harmonica, diy flowerpots, avoiding dangerous household chemicals, preventing ear infections, how women can pee standing up, menstrual massages, and a few pieces for inspiration. I'm sure you can see by now why this is essential. ISBN 0-9726967-9-2) 13.50
SKYSCRAPER #26 (Issue #26 of Skyscraper is packed to the gills with articles, interviews and features on bands like Bad Brains, Pissed Jeans, Black Cross, Torche, Gallows and tons more as well as the usual reviews and columns.) 5.00
2008 Slingshot Organizer, large size (Wow. This year we're the main distributor of Slingshot Organizers! Which makes us feel pretty darn lucky. For now, we have a limited selection of colors, but by the beginning of November, we'll have every color offered, so watch for that! For those who haven't seen a large Slingshot, it's a spiral-bound calendar and day planner. It includes space to write your phone numbers, a contact list of radical leftist groups around the globe, a menstrual calendar, info on police repression, and extra note pages to record all your important revolutionary ideas. It also lists popular activist and alternative cultural holidays. The highlight is how to say key phrases in multiple languages; phrases such as, "freedom and mutual aid," and "where is the library?" If this wasn't enough, it also serves as a fund-raiser for the Berkeley radical newspaper, SLINGSHOT.) 12.00
T-shirts
COMADRE courthouse T-shirt (blue shirt w/ mulit colored front and back print in YL,S,M,L) 12.50
Funeral Diner „birds“ T-shirt (brown american appararel t-shirt – S,M,L) 16.00
Ghostlimb „los angeles“ T-shirt (grey shirt w/ multi colored print in YL,M) 12.50
Graf Orlock aliens T-Shirt (blue shirt w/ multi colored printing in S,M,L) 12.50
Graf Orlock black metal T-shirt (black shirt w/ white front and back print in S,M,L) 12.50
Hot Cross „cyroincs“ T-Shirt (blue shirt w/ multi colored print in S,M,L) 16.00
LE SHOK same T-Shir (bad skulls – black shirt w/ blue print in S,M,L) 15.00
NEVER HEALED woodcut T-shirt (bad skulls - 2-sided white ink on black shirt S,M,L) 16.00
Saviours „warship“ T-shirt (bad skulls - Charcoal Ink on Black shirt in S,M,L) 15.00
Vss logo T-Shirt (bad skulls – black shirt w/ white printing S/M/L) 15.00
Rare stuff
400 YEARS suture LP (great american steak religion) 17.00
Gray Matter thog LP (dischord)18.00
PIEBALD sometimes friends fight 10" 20.00
RUHAEDA same LP (level plane) 17.00
TEAM DRESCH personal best LP 15.00
up next
LVMEN anthology DLP
new not not fun stuff
OM pilgrimage LP
etc etc