Posts Tagged ‘Aquarius Records’

Album of the day: Nadja – Autopergamene

Posted on Thursday, January 12th, 2012

Praise for Nadja‘s Autopergamene from San Francisco’s aQuarius Records: If you’re a Nadja fan, you’re definitely gonna want one of these, sure all Nadja records are pretty great, but this one is incredible, an hour long three part epic, the heaviest, most lush and orchestral and intense record we’ve heard from these two yet.

The opening track, clocking in at 25 minutes, begins as a hushed bit of dreamy drift, all gauzy and washed out and shimmery, layered melodies, shifting and swirling and so lovely, very Pop Ambient in fact, until about 12 minutes in, when the drums kick in, the guitars explode, but it doesn’t simply get heavier, or louder.  It sounds orchestral, huge moaning melodies, what sounds like strings or horns, epic and kaleidoscopic, the sound living and breathing, prismatic and totally warm and glowing, a heaving chunk of blissed out dreamlike heaviness.

The second movement is more traditionally heavy, a chugging churning slab of lumbering doom, the pounding drum machine and buzzing riffs, wreathed in a swirling cloud of hiss and buzz and Technicolor effulgence. A sort of incendiary Godflesh style industrial crunch, with buried howled vocals, and constantly shifting patina of glitched out effects and electronic buzz, which gives away to the 26 minute closer, beginning with super spare acoustic guitars, which drift into a shimmering field of prismatic glimmer, eventually exploding into another slab of blown out orchestral epic dream doom.

Totally majestic, and almost choral sounding, wrapped in sheets of staticky buzz, the sound getting more and more fierce and intense and threatening to blow your speakers, total chaos and catharsis, blissful but ultra intense.  Finally, relenting, and leaving gorgeous sonic vapor trails, laced with buried boy girl vox, a dreamy understated coda, to a seriously epic bit of orchestral buzz drenched bliss. So great.

At 40 years old, Aquarius is the oldest independent record store in San Francisco. We try to only carry music we love, and we’re always searching for more new, cool, weird and wonderful music. All of which we then share with you, our loyal customers.

Tags: Aidan Baker, Album of the day, Aquarius Records, Autopergamene, Essence Music, Leah Buckareff, nadja
Posted in 2012, Album of the Day, Roadburn Recommended | No Comments »

Album of the day: House of Low Culture – Poisoned Soil

Posted on Saturday, January 7th, 2012

Praise for House of Low Culture‘s Poisoned Soil from San Francisco’s aQuarius Records: It’s been a while since we’ve heard from House Of Low Culture, the one man experimental / drone / soundscaping project of Aaron Turner, he of Hydra Head Records, Sige Records, Mammifer, Isis, Twilight, etc. This one ...read more

Album of the day: Burning Witch – S/T (4LP + DVD)

Posted on Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012

Praise for Burning Witch‘s S/T (4LP + DVD) from San Francisco’s aQuarius Records: We’ve got just a handful of these expensive new Burning Witch 4LP/DVD boxes, they’re fancy and SUPER limited, so odds are once we sell out we won’t be able to get more. Seems likely that only super ...read more

Album of the day: Death Trip – Pain is Pain

Posted on Monday, January 2nd, 2012

Praise for Death Trip’s Pain is Pain from San Francisco’s aQuarius Records: When we travel, record shopping plays a huge part in our planning. We’re guessing the same is true of many (most?) of you. Not only do we typically have various stores we want to check out, we also ...read more

Album of the day: Otesanek / Loss / Orthodox / Mournful Congregation – Four Burials

Posted on Thursday, December 8th, 2011

Praise for Otesanek / Loss / Orthodox / Mournful Congregation ‘s Four Burials from San Francisco’s aQuarius Records: Originally released in 2008 on Battle Kommand, this crushing ultra doom four way split is available again, courtesy of local label The Flenser. Absolute heaven (or hell if you prefer) for the ...read more

Album of the day: Sunn O))) Meets Nurse With Wound – The Iron Soul Of Nothing (LP)

Posted on Monday, December 5th, 2011

Praise for Sunn O))) meets Nurse With Wound‘s The Iron Soul Of Nothing from San Francisco’s aQuarius Records: Back in 2007, Stephen O’Malley approached Nurse With Wound about reworking Sunn O)))’s 00Void, urging that Steven Stapleton push the sound of Sunn O))) towards the classic NWW sound of Soliloquy For ...read more

Album of the day: Tim Hecker – Dropped Pianos (LP)

Posted on Sunday, December 4th, 2011

Praise for Tim Hecker‘s Dropped Pianos from San Francisco’s aQuarius Records: Canadian dronescaper and ambient deconstructionist Tim Hecker’s most recent record, Ravedeath 1972, was, as we proclaimed in our review of that record a few lists back, probably our favorite yet, which is all the more notable for belonging to ...read more

Album of the day: Pharaoh Overlord – Out Of Darkness (LP)

Posted on Friday, December 2nd, 2011

Praise for Pharaoh Overlord‘s Out Of Darkness from San Francisco’s aQuarius Records: Now on LP, this great PO album. Here’s what we said about the CD version when it came out a few months back, concurrently with Steel Mammoth’s Radiation Funeral. It’s “NWOFHM” in overdrive overload this week, with not ...read more

Album of the day: Umberto – Prophecy Of The Black Widow (CD)

Posted on Wednesday, November 30th, 2011

Praise for Umberto‘s Prophecy Of The Black Widow from San Francisco’s aQuarius Records: It’s about a month late for Halloween, but we’re still pretty thrilled that this Record Of The Week from last year is now available as a CD! Here’s what we said about the original vinyl version which ...read more

Album of the day: Aelter – III

Posted on Sunday, November 20th, 2011

Praise for Aelter‘s III from San Francisco’s aQuarius Records: We just reviewed the double disc reissue of Aelter I and II, a double CD reissue of two lps from this Wolvserpent / Pussygutt offshoot. The sound a sort of shoegazey dreamfolk blackdrone drift (as we described it in that review), so ...read more