O SIRHAN O SIRHAN MAGAZINE Issue #1 magazine 7.98
This brand new indie magazine from Brooklyn is off to quite a running start! It's packed with lots of cool art and music to read about, look at and listen to. This debut issue includes an article on Henry Flynt, interviews with Animal Collective, People's Mary Halvorson and 7 Year Rabbit Cycle, drawings by Devendra Banhart, a photo diary by Deerhoof and a cd by Jorge Boehringer (Core of The Coal Man).

O'BRIEN, JOHN Real Life (self-released) cd 11.98
From the get-go, John O'Brien's debut album Real Life sounds very much in the same sun-kissed, country-tinged vein as fellow Sfers Fojimoto. So it's not surprising that they've found each other - this album was recorded, mixed and co-produced by Marwan Kanafani of Fojimoto. Mr. O'Brien's boyish vocals also brought to mind those of Evan Dando of the Lemonheads. These are mostly warm and infectious pop songs with plenty of gentle strummy guitars, but there's also "Bottle On The Table" a rootsy raise-a-pint rollicker embellished with a little harmonica for good measure and the more solemn piano number "September 13" which also appeared on the "The Canvas Remembers September 11" compilation.
MPEG Stream: "Real Life"
MPEG Stream: "Bottle On The Table (Prozac)"

O'CONNOR, JENNIFER Over The Mountain, Across The Valley And Back To The Stars (Matador) cd 13.98
On the back of the advance copy of this Jennifer O'Connor cd we received from Matador Records, the label conveyed the press quote from Time Out NY "another Liz Phair or Elliott Smith waiting to happen". While we definitely concur with the former on songs like "Turn It Down" (at least in regards to Phair's Exile In Guyville album NOT her more recent daliances), we disagree wholeheartedly with the latter. Casual, no frills, girl next door-ish. She's very much in tune with other female singer / songwriters along the lines of Shawn Colvin and Indigo Girls. In fact, if there was still a Lilith Fair, she'd fit the bill just right.
MPEG Stream: "Century Estates"
MPEG Stream: "Turn It Down"

O'CONNOR, JENNIFER Over The Mountain, Across The Valley And Back To The Stars (Matador) lp 11.98
On the back of the advance copy of this Jennifer O'Connor cd we received from Matador Records, the label conveyed the press quote from Time Out NY "another Liz Phair or Elliott Smith waiting to happen". While we definitely concur with the former on songs like "Turn It Down" (at least in regards to Phair's Exile In Guyville album NOT her more recent daliances), we disagree wholeheartedly with the latter. Casual, no frills, girl next door-ish. She's very much in tune with other female singer / songwriters along the lines of Shawn Colvin and Indigo Girls. In fact, if there was still a Lilith Fair, she'd fit the bill just right.
MPEG Stream: "Century Estates"
MPEG Stream: "Perfect Match"

O'CONNOR, SINEAD Collaborations (Capitol) cd 17.98
These Collaborations aren't new, no, they were compiled from the numerous guest appearances that the irrepressible Ms Sinead O'Connor has made on other folks' releases over the years. They sure do demonstrate the incredible breadth of her musical forays -- rock, folk, dub, worldbeat, you name it. Some feature O'Connor front and center on lead vocals, while on others her voice is a peripheral subtle embellishment. For all of you diehard fans, it's certainly nice to have them all of these great tracks in one place, instead of cluttering up your music library with a bunch of other artists' albums that you care nothing about aside from the single songs that she appears on -- many which you probably haven't heard since way back in the day. For instance, while Cup's not such a huge O'Connor fan, she admits to having a soft spot for the song "Heroine" which O'Connor did with U2's The Edge back in 1986 for the film Captive. She certainly wore out her vinyl copy of the soundtrack listening to just that one song! Also featured are collabs with Asian Dub Foundation, Bomb The Bass, Ghostland, Jah Wobble, Afro Celt Sound System, The Blockheads, The The, U2, Conjure One, Peter Gabriel, Moby, Aslan, Damien Dempsey, The Colourfield, Terry Hall, and it all begins with Massive Attack's slinking "Special Cases".
MPEG Stream: "Special Cases"
MPEG Stream: "Heroine"

O'CONNOR, SINEAD Throw Down Your Arms (That's Why There's Chocolate And Vanilla) cd 14.98
Her powerhouse of a voice still in top form, Sinead O'Connor bursts back into the public eye and ear with two releases -- one a compilation of her collaborations aptly titled Collaborations, and the other being this all reggae covers album, Throw Down Your Arms. We've already heard many folks guffaw at even the thought of this concept (admittedly even though we know that she's no stranger to dub music, our own eyebrows were certainly raised), but let's quash those grumbling right now 'cause y'know what? It totally works. Always one to walk to the beat of her own ever-changing drum, the perennially outspoken O'Connor shows a deep reverence, humility and connection to each of the songs which include straightforward renditions of Burning Spear's "Door Peep", Lee Perry's "Vampire" and "Curly Locks", and Peter Tosh's "Downpressor Man". The musicians backing her are themselves top notch veteran Jamaican artists including Mikey Chung on guitar and Dean Fraser on saxophone not to mention Sly & Robbie who also produced the whole proceedings in Kingston, Jamaica. It all just adds up to pretty darn great!
MPEG Stream: "Door Peep"
MPEG Stream: "Curly Locks"

O'NEIL, TARA JANE Bones (Preservation) cd 16.98
A brand new, limited edition collection of stark and compelling personal folk ambience from AQ fave Tara Jane O'Neil who has completely shed her post rock / post punk past (having played bass in the legendary Rodan, and more recently in Sonora Pine and Retsin) and become a dark and moody folk chanteuse of sorts. Spinnng ultra personal tales of love and sorrow over lilting folk and moody ambient soundscapes, O'Neil creates a sepia toned sonic world of gauzy, afternoon sunlit langour and late summer idyll. Recorded over the last few years all over the country and in all sorts of locations (apartments, ballrooms, etc) Bones also finds O'Neil experimenting with found sounds and electronic beats, adding more color to her usual greys and browns. Desolate and beautiful, Bones is maybe her best record yet!
MPEG Stream: "The Poisoned Mine"
MPEG Stream: "Famous Yellow Belly"

O'NEIL, TARA JANE In Circles (Quarterstick) cd 14.98
Tara Jane O'Neil's latest solo outing doesn't stray far from the delicate structures of her previous efforts and that's a good thing. Unlike the latest recordings of her contemporaries, Neko Case, Beth Orton, and Chan Marshall, O'Neil, former member of Rodan and Retsin, eschews the full band songwriter mode and instead recorded these lilting and ethereal songs in various empty wooden houses around Portland, Or. The subtle sonic whirl and droning effects that begin most of the songs puts O'Neil closer to the Six Organs camp as the songs become folk-ish paeans to the mystical nature of the Pacific Northwest. Lovely!
MPEG Stream: "A Room For These"
MPEG Stream: "This Beats"

O'NEIL, TARA JANE In the Sun Lines (Quarterstick) cd 14.98
Newest offering from O'Neil formerly of the mighty Rodan, although her post Rodan work bears little or no resemblance. Dark and twangy melancholia, rough around the edges, but rough the way your favorite warm coat is rough: frayed and tattered but still the coat you're wearing even though you have two new jackets hanging in the closet. Her best yet.

O'NEIL, TARA JANE Peregrine (Quarterstick) cd 14.98
Founding member of Sonora Pine, Retsin and Rodan is out with a new solo album replete with quiet vocals and layers of warm guitar, piano, banjo, etc.

O'NEIL, TARA JANE TJO TKO (Mr. Lady) cd 13.98
I (Sadie) love Tara Jane O'Neil. She has been in tons of amazing bands: Rodan, Retsin and the Sonora Pine to name a few. And as a solo artist she is just so lovely. This record is totally beautiful, dreamy and sad with slow and sort-of-driving electronica beats beneath layers of gorgeous guitars and her breathtaking voice. It's the perfect music to lay in your front yard to, or listen to when falling asleep. It's calming and trancy and totally hypnotic. In a weird way, it reminds me of early Bjork, but I don't want to cheapen it by comparing it to other stuff, 'cause it's so unique and perfect. It accomplishes that difficult mixture of cold electronica and digital sounds with beautiful heart wrenching human sincerity. Perhaps her best work to date, this is her first record on Mr. Lady, and I'm glad. They seem like a good match, such a cool label, and a phenomenal artist.
RealAudio clip: "Prick"
RealAudio clip: "Welcome Back"

O'NEIL, TARA JANE Who Takes A Feather (Map) book + 3" cd 20.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We are down to our last two copies and pretty sure we won't ever be able to get more, so act fast. This is a gorgeous collection of Tara Jane O'Neil's drawings, paintings and prose all beautifully printed and published in a really nice oversized soft cover book, imported from Japan. Psst, there's also a lil' 3" cd tucked away in the back cover too, with three brand new exclusive tunes!!

O'NEIL, TARA JANE You Sound, Reflect (Quarterstick) cd 14.98
If you've been following our reviews of Ms O'Neil's releases over the years, you might've noticed a trend. That is, we've used the words "beautiful" and "her best yet" (or words to that effect) on each subsequent release. I (Cup) am more than pleased to report that the tradition continues with You Sound, Reflect. Damn, lady! You just keep getting better and better! Seriously, this is totally achingly beautiful from start to finish. One dozen hushed, lonely and contemplative songs carefully crafted from brittle, barely-there piano, banjo, fiddle, guitar and vocals. Recommended.
MPEG Stream: "The Poisoned Mine"
MPEG Stream: "Without Push"

O'RILEY, CHRISTOPHER True Love Waits (Sony) cd 12.98
Probably the easiest way to describe this would be 'George Winston plays Radiohead.' And if you were me (Andee) that would be enough. I love Radiohead. And I love all things George Winston/Windham Hill. -Not ironically- I might add. But if you're not me, and thank your lucky stars you're not, then I guess we can elaborate a bit. Gorgeous shimmery solo piano versions of all your favorite Radiohead songs, from hits to distinctly-not-hits. The melodies are intact, as are the basic song structures, but the effect of -those- songs being played on a piano is quite lovely. Simplified and stretched out, strange atonal clusters of notes replace electronic weirdness, simple spacious reverb takes the place of million dollar production, and the result is a simple, soft, gorgeously serene performance that reveals Radiohead's songwriting genius and O'Riley's sympathetic ear. Definitely veers towards 'elevator music' but c'mon, wouldn't you rather hear Radiohead in the elevator than Billy Joel or Elton John? I sure would.
MPEG Stream: "Everything In Its Right Place"
MPEG Stream: "Knives Out"

O'ROURKE, JIM Bad Timing (Drag City) cd 13.98
Crowd-pleasing folk strum, very pretty but so close to Fahey that we can't tell if it's a parody or he's serious or what.

O'ROURKE, JIM Bad Timing (Drag City) lp 9.98
Crowd-pleasing folk strum, very pretty but so close to Fahey that we can't tell if it's a parody or he's serious or what.

O'ROURKE, JIM Disengage (Staaltape) 2cd 21.00

O'ROURKE, JIM Eureka (Drag City) cd 13.98
Everyone seems to be torn between being impressed by Mr. O'Rourke's amazingly all encompassing sonic palette, or just annoyed by his short attention span. While Bad Timing was quite an unexpected and pleasant Fahey-esque surprise, Eureka finds Jim O'Rourke experimenting with the lush pop that was hinted at on the last Gastr Del Sol record. If you like the orch-pop of Cardinal and Eric Matthews, the Supertrampish stylings of the High Llamas, or the real deal: Steely Dan/Seals and Croft, then there's bound to be something here to amuse or entertain you.

O'ROURKE, JIM Eureka (Drag City) lp 13.98
Everyone seems to be torn between being impressed by Mr. O'Rourke's amazingly all encompassing sonic palette, or just annoyed by his short attention span. While Bad Timing was quite an unexpected and pleasant Fahey-esque surprise, Eureka finds Jim O'Rourke experimenting with the lush pop that was hinted at on the last Gastr Del Sol record. If you like the orch-pop of Cardinal and Eric Matthews, the Supertrampish stylings of the High Llamas, or the real deal: Steely Dan/Seals and Croft, then there's bound to be something here to amuse or entertain you.

O'ROURKE, JIM Halfway to a Threeway (Drag City) cd 10.98
Jim O'Rourke, seemingly unsatisfied with his efforts on "Bad Timing" and "Eureka", has decided to mine his new found love of Bread, America, and Steely Dan to the motherlode on this three song ep.

O'ROURKE, JIM Halfway to a Threeway (Drag City) lp 8.98
Jim O'Rourke, seemingly unsatisfied with his efforts on "Bad Timing" and "Eureka", has decided to mine his new found love of Bread, America, and Steely Dan to the motherlode on this three song ep.

O'ROURKE, JIM I'm Happy, And I'm Singing, And A 1,2,3,4 (Mego) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
There are those of us at this fine institution who wish to declare open season on Jim O'Rourke, and start blasting shotgun shells at him, his bunny suit, his 'post-irony' (whatever the fuck that is), and his chameleon-like approach towards all forms of music. Such a demonstrative proclamation would have been warranted on the basis of 2001's worst album, O'Rourke's "Insignificance." Given the prevailing atmosphere of hostility towards Jim O'Rourke , I (Jim) really wanted to hate this album. I mean I really wanted to give this a shitty review. But, in trying to be as honest as possible about the music that we carry, I can't.
Promoted as his electronic glitch album, "I'm Happy, And I'm Singing, And A 1, 2, 3, 4" has been conveniently released on the Austrian electronic glitch label Mego. Just like Mego's uber talented Christian Fennesz, O'Rourke fuses elements of antique melodic signatures within a Powerbook generated disfiguration into complex networks of sound that retain the timbre and colour of the original sounds in spite of the digital glitch manifestation. Initially, this album is nothing more than another pleasantly playful recombination of the current glitch aesthetic. He applies the Supercollider treatment to an accordion to dislocate the souce material with a fluctuating system of interlocking repetitive samples sounding like a digitized update of Frippertronics or even Terry Riley's time lag generator. Nice, but is completely overwhelmed by the same idea found on the Keith Fullerton Whitman album "21:30 For Acoustic Guitar" He follows this up with some fey dinner jazz piano lines and summertime guitar picking run through gossamer digitalized syncopations. Again, nice but nothing that Stephan Mathieu, Ekkhard Ehlers, or Fennesz haven't done better.
*However* if you were to stop listening to these two tracks, before getting to the 20-plus minute finale, you would have missed one of O'Rourke's finest moments alongside the criminally overlooked "Disengage" and slowly antagonistic "Happy Days." "And A 1, 2, 3, 4" (it appears that the song titles are just fragments of the album's title) is beautiful digital threnody with sombre violins passing through a Feldman like alternation through a harmonic series of notes. While it could be said that O'Rourke is *again* mimicking another artist, he does apply an ample amount of digtal signal processing (lots of warbled tremolo, granular dispersion, etc.) offering that which I've rarely heard from Jim O'Rourke: something "new."
RealAudio clip: "I'm Happy"
RealAudio clip: "And I'm Singing"
RealAudio clip: "And A 1,2,3,4"

O'ROURKE, JIM I'm Happy, And I'm Singing, And A 1,2,3,4 (Mego) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
There are those of us at this fine institution who wish to declare open season on Jim O'Rourke, and start blasting shotgun shells at him, his bunny suit, his 'post-irony' (whatever the fuck that is), and his chameleon-like approach towards all forms of music. Such a demonstrative proclamation would have been warranted on the basis of 2001's worst album, O'Rourke's "Insignificance." Given the prevailing atmosphere of hostility towards Jim O'Rourke , I (Jim) really wanted to hate this album. I mean I really wanted to give this a shitty review. But, in trying to be as honest as possible about the music that we carry, I can't.
Promoted as his electronic glitch album, "I'm Happy, And I'm Singing, And A 1, 2, 3, 4" has been conveniently released on the Austrian electronic glitch label Mego. Just like Mego's uber talented Christian Fennesz, O'Rourke fuses elements of antique melodic signatures within a Powerbook generated disfiguration into complex networks of sound that retain the timbre and colour of the original sounds in spite of the digital glitch manifestation. Initially, this album is nothing more than another pleasantly playful recombination of the current glitch aesthetic. He applies the Supercollider treatment to an accordion to dislocate the souce material with a fluctuating system of interlocking repetitive samples sounding like a digitized update of Frippertronics or even Terry Riley's time lag generator. Nice, but is completely overwhelmed by the same idea found on the Keith Fullerton Whitman album "21:30 For Acoustic Guitar" He follows this up with some fey dinner jazz piano lines and summertime guitar picking run through gossamer digitalized syncopations. Again, nice but nothing that Stephan Mathieu, Ekkhard Ehlers, or Fennesz haven't done better.
*However* if you were to stop listening to these two tracks, before getting to the 20-plus minute finale, you would have missed one of O'Rourke's finest moments alongside the criminally overlooked "Disengage" and slowly antagonistic "Happy Days." "And A 1, 2, 3, 4" (it appears that the song titles are just fragments of the album's title) is beautiful digital threnody with sombre violins passing through a Feldman like alternation through a harmonic series of notes. While it could be said that O'Rourke is *again* mimicking another artist, he does apply an ample amount of digtal signal processing (lots of warbled tremolo, granular dispersion, etc.) offering that which I've rarely heard from Jim O'Rourke: something "new."

O'ROURKE, JIM Insignificance (Drag City) cd 14.98
Upon close investigation into the gleefully genre-jumping career of Jim O'Rourke, a recurring theme becomes glaringly obvious: O'Rourke discovers a highly distinctive sound (i.e. John Fahey, Red Krayola, John Duncan, Sea and Cake), O'Rourke begins to communicate with the authors of the aforementioned sound, O'Rourke works with authors as a collaborator, producer, or engineer, and finally O'Rourke's next album bares more than a striking similarity to the artists with whom he's just worked. There's of course nothing wrong with an genuine homage, but you have to be careful or else it can become an ironic parody at worst or a sloppy pastiche at best. For the most part, O'Rourke has spoken the language of the homage with great skill, unusual dexterity, and usually a great deal of reverence for the original.
Yet sadly, it seems that on "Insignificance" this isn't quite the case. "Insignificance" has already become known as, quite simply, Jim O'Rourke's "southern rock" album. But O'Rourke's intentions towards southern rock seem far from homage, and it seems he may have slipped drearily down the path of the ironist. The opening cut -- with its (unwittingly?) apt title "All Downhill From Here" -- is a shameless rip-off of "Sweet Home Alabama," performed as if sung by Lou Reed, completed with Steve Miller Band backing "hoo-hoo"s and a terminally shitty drum production straight out of Robert Pollard's basement. O'Rourke sheepishly denies any intentional links between this song and Lynyrd Skynyrd, which seems a bit dubious. A couple of sub-Chicago / Bruce Hornsby ballads -- that do (to be fair) have that lush sound found on his Stereolab production work -- lead into another painful pop culture reference: Edie Brickell's "What I Am". Really.
If this is 'conceptual' art, am I supposed to believe what I hear? Is this is an homage to the losers who work at Guitar Center and who have saved $5000 to record their 'great southern rock opera' at a studio where the engineer doesn't give a fuck who's in front of a microphone as long as they're paying? That's not art. That's bullshit. Jim O'Rourke needs to have his tongue surgically removed from his cheek this time. Either that or we should bow down before our copies of The Wire and proclaim that we all love the emperor's new bunny costume.
RealAudio clip: "Get A Room"
RealAudio clip: "All Downhill From Here"

O'ROURKE, JIM Insignificance (Drag City) lp 14.98
Upon close investigation into the gleefully genre-jumping career of Jim O'Rourke, a recurring theme becomes glaringly obvious: O'Rourke discovers a highly distinctive sound (i.e. John Fahey, Red Krayola, John Duncan, Sea and Cake), O'Rourke begins to communicate with the authors of the aforementioned sound, O'Rourke works with authors as a collaborator, producer, or engineer, and finally O'Rourke's next album bares more than a striking similarity to the artists with whom he's just worked. There's of course nothing wrong with an genuine homage, but you have to be careful or else it can become an ironic parody at worst or a sloppy pastiche at best. For the most part, O'Rourke has spoken the language of the homage with great skill, unusual dexterity, and usually a great deal of reverence for the original.
Yet sadly, it seems that on "Insignificance" this isn't quite the case. "Insignificance" has already become known as, quite simply, Jim O'Rourke's "southern rock" album. But O'Rourke's intentions towards southern rock seem far from homage, and it seems he may have slipped drearily down the path of the ironist. The opening cut -- with its (unwittingly?) apt title "All Downhill From Here" -- is a shameless rip-off of "Sweet Home Alabama," performed as if sung by Lou Reed, completed with Steve Miller Band backing "hoo-hoo"s and a terminally shitty drum production straight out of Robert Pollard's basement. O'Rourke sheepishly denies any intentional links between this song and Lynyrd Skynyrd, which seems a bit dubious. A couple of sub-Chicago / Bruce Hornsby ballads -- that do (to be fair) have that lush sound found on his Stereolab production work -- lead into another painful pop culture reference: Edie Brickell's "What I Am". Really.
If this is 'conceptual' art, am I supposed to believe what I hear? Is this is an homage to the losers who work at Guitar Center and who have saved $5000 to record their 'great southern rock opera' at a studio where the engineer doesn't give a fuck who's in front of a microphone as long as they're paying? That's not art. That's bullshit. Jim O'Rourke needs to have his tongue surgically removed from his cheek this time. Either that or we should bow down before our copies of The Wire and proclaim that we all love the emperor's new bunny costume.

O'ROURKE, JIM Terminal Pharmacy (Tzadik) cd 15.98
Ah, the Tzadik label's lovely obis. Not that they tell you what the record Sounds Like, but still: "American composer/improviser/producer Jim O'Rourke has worked with Derek Bailey, Tony Conrad, Faust, the Red Krayola and Gastr del Sol -- electro-acoustic music is the thread that connects his varied activities and comprises his main compositional effort. These pieces, two years in the making, are his finest constructions to date."

O'ROURKE, JIM & MATS GUSTAFSSON Xylophonen Virtuosen (Incus) cd 19.98
Jim O'Rourke (who is almost as talented as he is ubiquitous) in one corner, with his "guitar & junk". Swedish reedsman Mats Gustafsson in the other, brandishing tenor sax, flute, and "fluteophone". Released on Derek Bailey's free improv Incus label. The track titles bear mentioning: "Paging Cyndi", "Faxing Stina", "Calling Patti", "Telexing Jun", and, best of all, "Smoke Signalling Polly Jean"!

O'ROURKE, JIM / EDDIE PREVOST / MICHAEL PRIME Alpha Lemur Echo Two cd 16.98
Working with AMM's percusionist Eddie Prevost and eccentic improviser Michael Prime (Morphogenesis, Organum), the ubiquitous and chameleon-like Jim O'Rourke plays the part of AMM's Keith Rowe quite adequately offering various electro-acoustic scrapes, silences, drones, skronks, and gurgles that spread over 53 minutes.

O'ROURKE, JIM / SONIC YOUTH Invito Al Cielo (SYR) 12" 8.98
Third EP in the self-released series. This is another instrumental work that is more similar to the second stretched out EP than the melodic first. Bonus: all text in Esperanto.

O'ROURKE, JIM / SONIC YOUTH (SYR#3) Invito Al Cielo (SYR) cdep 8.98
Third EP in the self-released series. This is another instrumental work that is more similar to the second stretched out EP than the melodic first. Bonus: all text in Esperanto.

O.A.D. Daytona (FMN) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Incredible improvising rock/funk/freejazz combo - "club music of the 21st century." Members of Ground Zero, Ruins, Omoide Hatoba, Children Coup d'Etat participate. With turntables and psychedelic rock guitar. The live tracks are absolutely killer. One of Allan's top ten for 1995.

O.A.D. Slimy Crime b/w Double Bind (O.A.D.) 7" 4.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

O.G. RON C. Southern's Finest Chopped & Skrewed (GVM) cd 16.98
AQ was (and still is) totally obsessed with DJ Screw the Southern Fried DJ that slowed all your favorite hits down to a crawl, making MTV hits into murky musical nightmares. When Screw passed away a few years back, there was a line around the block of DJ's willing to 'screw' tracks for a buck. And of course with that came some variations on the Screw formula. So here's a record of Southern underground hip hop skrewed ('k' instead of a 'c' just so we're not confused) and chopped, which from listening to this disc, we take to mean, the dj stops, scratches, and rewinds the -whole- record. The record which has already been slowed down (skrewed). None of this scratching over the top as embellishment, this is stopping the whole record...shka....shka...shka.....and then it starts up again. Pretty cool. Not as fun as hearing the big hits chopped and screwed but pretty damn cool nonetheless.
RealAudio clip: "N Love Wit My Money"
RealAudio clip: "Ballin' Is A Habit"

O.RANG Fields and Waves (Echo) cd 23.00
U.K. import.

O.RANG Fields and Waves (Echo) lp 19.98
U.K. import.

O.RANG Herd of Instinct (HitIt!) cd 14.98
Ex-Talk Talk people making ethno-ambient bleepy music very much like Mouse on Mars. Subtle, measured, nice.

O.S.T. Death Notice (Phthalo) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
San Francisco's electronica maverick O.S.T. has unfortunately not been doing as well career-wise as he deserves, as several records which were originally intended for release Plug Research and Reflective got shelved by the labels. Not too smart on their part, as all are great. And thankfully, at least this one got a proper release at last. On the Pthalo label, Chris Douglas (aka O.S.T. as well as Rook Vallard) presents his third album as O.S.T. "Death Notice," which despite its morose title is his most delicate record. It's a collection of poetic vignettes of delicate electronica melodies. While the palette used is similar to O.S.T.'s previous abrasive work, there is an interest not so much in the caustic but the beautiful, resulting in an album not unlike Coil's rejected "Hellraiser" soundtracks or Aphex Twin's "Selected Ambient Works Vol. 2". Recommended!

O.S.T. Deflect (Emanate) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
San Francisco's dandy of damaged electronica - Chris Douglas aka OST aka Rook Vallard aka Church Steps (when working with Mike Dial) - presents another installment from his increasingly prolific output. 'Deflect' is an epileptic album of erratic drum programming, skittering and sputtering alongside counterpoint flanges of digital bell-like resonations and oblique washed out melodies. It's actually quite close to the painterly electronica of Mouse On Mars though a bit more darkly hallucinatory and twisted.

O.S.T. Deflect (Emanate) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
San Francisco's dandy of damaged electronica - Chris Douglas aka OST aka Rook Vallard aka Church Steps (when working with Mike Dial) - presents another installment from his increasingly prolific output. 'Deflect' is an epileptic album of erratic drum programming, skittering and sputtering alongside counterpoint flanges of digital bell-like resonations and oblique washed out melodies. It's actually quite close to the painterly electronica of Mouse On Mars though a bit more darkly hallucinatory and twisted.

O.S.T. does not play well with others (Polyrhythmic) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Perhaps his most polished work to date, O.S.T. covers a lot of sonic terrain on his newest album. As opposed to many of his previous releases on which you might encounter just one of his sonic personas - extremely abrasive confrontations, spacey atmospherics, arachnidian electronic glitchiness - on D.N.P.W.W.O. he incorporates all of them. This provides for a vast contrast from one track to the next, but not jarringly so. You'll get the droning heaviness, clusters of electronic shards, distorted carnivalesque melodies (check out "Jeux"), gluey minimal pulses and more throughout these eighteen tracks.
RealAudio clip: "Jeux"
RealAudio clip: "Mettez"

O.S.T. Fashion for Passion (Dial) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Along with the roster of L.A.'s Plug Research, O.S.T. dispels any notion that West Coast electronica need be sunny and pleasant. San Francisco's maverick has also recorded for the Worm Interface label as Rook Vallard and here, sculpts malevolent soundtracks of distant washes of noise which have been pushed intensely into the foreground. Highly recommended.

O.S.T. Fuckin' Twats Missed It (Phthalo) cd-r 12.98
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This album was intended for release on Jonah Sharp's Reflective label but never saw light of day, until Phthalo manufactured 250 cd-r's of the album. O.S.T.'s metallic tones and piercing squiggles sit above crunchy distorted beats for a very dark and alienating piece of electronica.

O.S.T. Globule (@ Mills College 4.12.99) (Phthalo) cd-r 12.98
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Yup, this is one of the limited Phthalo cd-r releases. O.S.T. took his array of computers and electronic gizmos to the academic realms of Mills Collage. Retaining his caustic sensibility, Chris Douglas (aka O.S.T./Rook Vallard) mimics the late '60s sound of academic computer music within the more structural sounds of post-Aphex electronica.

O.S.T. Live @ Nina's (Phthalo) cd 12.98
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Ominous shadows lurk in the dank maze of sewer tunnels beneath the city, and O.S.T. has lured them to the surface. Well, not literally, but this does sound pretty close to what you might imagine... that is, if the tunnels were inhabited with tiny electronic spiders weaving webs of prickly circuitry. Subdued bleep'n'click rhythms keep things on an even keel through the layers of synthetic strings, severely processed samples and vaporous drones. This was probably pretty great to experience live in a darkened club setting, but you surely can scoop up a copy of this limited cd-r and recreate an equally suitable atmosphere at home. Just shy of an hour long.
RealAudio clip: "track 2"
RealAudio clip: "track 4"

O.S.T. Live @ Static (Phthalo) cd-r 12.98
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This cd-r from the maverick Phthalo label showcases San Francisco's O.S.T. at his most punishing. Recorded live at the rotating if sporadic Static club, O.S.T.'s arsenal of distorto-Aphex-crunch beats smash against agressive melodic chords, all wrangled through his banks of effects. A very nasty piece of electronica.

O.S.T. Seimlste (Qlipothic) cd 16.98
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Chris Douglas (aka O.S.T. / Rook Vallard / Rook Vallade) returns with more of his 'chemically imbalanced', willfully difficult electronica. For "Seimlste," his first proper release on his own label, Douglas appears to have done away with much of the post-Aphex drum machine damage which dominated many of his earlier recordings in favor of incredibly caustic Max / MSP filters that are heavy on the DSP downpitching and fractalization to achieve a ton of digital snow, covering O.S.T.'s electronic wasteland, at times occasionally venturing into territory similar to MB's early recordings of misanthropic ambience.
The lp version comes on 220 gram virgin vinyl!
RealAudio clip: "Fe"
RealAudio clip: "Intv"

O.S.T. Seimlste (Qlipothic) 2lp 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Chris Douglas (aka O.S.T. / Rook Vallard / Rook Vallade) returns with more of his 'chemically imbalanced', willfully difficult electronica. For "Seimlste," his first proper release on his own label, Douglas appears to have done away with much of the post-Aphex drum machine damage which dominated many of his earlier recordings in favor of incredibly caustic Max / MSP filters that are heavy on the DSP downpitching and fractalization to achieve a ton of digital snow, covering O.S.T.'s electronic wasteland, at times occasionally venturing into territory similar to MB's early recordings of misanthropic ambience.
The lp version comes on 220 gram virgin vinyl!

OAKEN THRONE Number Four - Winter 2006 magazine 5.00
Finally a new issue of the mighty Oaken Throne magazine, and they continue to gradually expand their scope, moving slowly and slightly further away from their position as thee ultra grim and ultra true "Elite Black Metal Skripture" and toward a much more varied and AQ like tome. We're certainly not complaining obviously, but there must be a whole lot of troubled true black metallers, as most of the two intros by editors Ben West and John Mincemoyer are spent apologizing for / explaining the lack of grim corpsepainted hordes and explaining the new shift.
But as far as we're concerned, Oaken Throne just keeps getting better, focusing on black metal, but expanding enough to allow for other blackened musicks. This time around, the line-up reads almost like an AQ list: Black Boned Angel, Celestiial, Thralldom, Graves At Sea, Wolves In The Throne Room, Nachtmystium, Villains, L'Acephale, Temple Of Baal, Withered and Vorkreist. All the articles are super in depth are gorgeously laid out (as is the whole magazine), well written and interesting (one of the pieces, the Black Boned Angel one was written by our very own Andee) most with killer photos and/or amazing illustrations (including the most bad ass drawing of Wolves In The Throne Room by AQ customer Justin Bartlett).
Also includes tons of reviews (also super varied and all over the map, from Solar Anus to Bone Awl to Dead Raven Choir to Mrtyu to Moss To Nadja!) and the cover is that immediately recognizable and super striking, silver ink on matte black paper, and once again, the Ben West designed tUMULt ad on the back cover (he also designed the I Hate Your Band poster!) looks so cool, it's almost nicer than the actual magazine cover!
One of our favorite magazines and of course HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

OAKEN THRONE Number One - Winter 2003 magazine 4.50
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Awesome new black metal magazine. Grim and Elite and very very big. Well, tall actually. In fact this magazine is so big (a foot and a half high) you will probably have to have it shipped separately. Worth it though. Gorgeous matte black cover, silkscreened in silver metallic ink. This is the debut issue and has features on/interviews with Antaeus, Manticore, Destroyer 666 and Arkhon Infaustus as well as a handful of reviews (inlcuding local black metallers Ludicra!). Very cool.