CANCELLED: Instore tomorrow, 10/11, 5:30pm!

Update: CANCELLED! (the instore, not The Hemlock show). Sorry!

Old AQ faves The Renderers, from New Zealand!

And they'll be at The Hemlock later that night, too!

Finders Keepers/B-Music DJs at AQ this Friday!

Hey, hey, you're invited...

B-Music / Finders Keepers Records Live DJ set @ Aquarius Records

Sept. 9th, 8:30pm 'til close

featuring Doug Shipton & Mahssa Taghinia

Doug Shipton (Finders Keepers Records/B-Music UK) is a renowned record hound, LP compiler, international DJ and co-founder of Finders Keepers Records. He's in the States to promote his long awaited debut mixtape, DEDICATED SWALLOWER OF FASHION - a cacophony of syncopated psychedelic madness that draws from his enviably expansive record collection and challenging DJ sets, dusting off handpicked fuzz-ridden-break-heavy platters from as far and wide as Malaysia, France, India, Germany, USA, Russia, Spain, Columbia, Italy and Indonesia.

Mahssa (B-Music/Finders Keepers Records Los Angeles) represents the UK- based B-Music/Finders Keepers Records in the States (West Coast office) and is part of a global collective of DJs and "Vinyl Librarians" dedicated to the art of discovery (and rediscovery) of off- kilter music, film, design and literature of the better part of the '60s/'70s and beyond. Her own psychedelic "record party" in LA is called CUREATION, and she's responsible for the curation and compilation of the respective POMEGRANATES and GOOGOOSH collections.

Should be a lot of fun. They'll be playing wild, rare stuff we're sure, and some upcoming Finders Keepers / B-Music treats. Even though it's a "list night" we'll be groovin' as soon as we get the list done.

So be sure to come by!! We might even have some beverages to share.

Whoops, didn't mean to be quite so face melting

Sunday's Record Store Day After instore by Mitchell And Manley was reviewed by The Signal And Noise blog, who report that the duo "melted faces". They later told us that they hadn't meant to be quite so loud... It was good though!

Two exciting instores in April!

Heads up, folks! We're pleased to announce two awesome instore performances this coming month.

First, on Monday, April 11th, at 6pm, we've got MOON DUO! The Wooden Shjips offshoot's new album for Sacred Bones, "Mazes", was one of our Records Of The Week this past Friday, as if we had to tell you. (By the way, we sold out of those really quick, we'll have more in stock tomorrow though - alas, without the super limited bonus disc, those are gone gone gone.)

That'll be a kind of a kick off to the week leading up to, yes, RECORD STORE DAY, Saturday April 16th! Can't wait. We're not gonna have any bands play here on Record Store Day, that would be too crazy, but guess what? We've got a special Record Store Day related instore on Sunday the 17th. Record Store Day After, as it were.

It'll be another duo, Phil Manley aka Life Coach (Trans Am, Jonas Reinhardt, The Fucking Champs, etc.) and Isaiah Mitchell (Earthless) in support of their RSD release on Thrill Jockey, the vinyl-only Mitchell and Manley "Norcal Values" album.

That's Sunday April 17th at 5pm. We're pretty excited about this, so be there, and make it a Record Store Weekend!

Here's Thrill Jockey's press release blurb about "Norcal Values", btw:

Floating down the Yuba River, hang gliding off the cliffs at Fort Funston, a day at Ocean Beach with the dog, a leisurely stroll in Golden Gate Park, a fat bag of Trainwreck; these are among the many images that come to mind when listening to Mitchell and Manley’s Norcal Values.

Inspired by his spiritual advisor, Bettina Richards, Phil Manley recruited the shredding stylings of Earthless’ Isaiah Mitchell to collaborate on a record comprised almost exclusively of a single continuous guitar solo. The recording was made live with no overdubs - completely improvised. This recording exhibits inspiration so pure that it could only come from within. Drawing from the classical Indian music tradition as well as from modern new age music, Norcal Values is the sonic equivalent of fine Californian cuisine. We invite you to dine upon its bountiful aural splendor. Bon appetite.

Lichens instore

Don't forget, Robert A.A. Lowe aka Lichens will be performing at the shop tomorrow, Wednesday December 15th at 6pm!!!!!

Here's what we wrote about Lichens' debut on Kranky/Holy Mountain:

Robert Lowe, of the now defunct 90 Day Men, as well as part time member of TV On The Radio, delivers his first solo record, using the name Lichens, and creates a ghostly otherworld, using primarily his voice. That's right. An acapella record. Well, mostly. Lowe's haunting impressionistic vocals are drenched in reverb and sent drifitng into the ether, a soft fluttering falsetto most of the time, a low monk like chant at others, swooping through ominous minor key melodies, over simple sparkling guitar lines, wrapped in a warm and shimmery haze, over a bed of rumbling drones and occasional chiming percussion. Delicate crystalline soundscapes equal parts Pelt, Sigur Ros, Scott Tuma and Jewelled Antler. All three tracks recorded live with no overdubs, all completely otherworldly and breathtakingly lovely.

Double Live On Valencia posters

We'll have these rad posters for sale ($25) at the instore Saturday (and they'll also be for sale across the street at Lost Weekend, 1034 Valencia, where Superchunk will be going to do a Q&A and screen the Quest For Sleep documentary at 6pm, after their acoustic set here at 5pm). Thanks to our friends at Lost Weekend for making these posters happen!

Instore next Saturday

Hey folks, there's this obscure new band we think you might like, they're pretty cool, so we thought we'd try and help these youngsters out out by letting them play a free acoustic instore at Aquarius, it's a week from today, Saturday October 16th, at 5pm, so come on by and check 'em out. Oh, they're called Superchunk.

Instore upcoming: Black Valleys

We were all excited to announce that our fave East Coast space rock psych lords, White Hills, were gonna be doing an instore here at AQ real soon, on October 1st to be precise, the same day they'll be playing in SF at the Rickshaw Stop. Unfortunately, they had to cancel. But, never fear! They've hooked us up with some friends of theirs, a mysterious band of synthy dronesters called Black Valleys, who can do the instore. We're assured that all White Hills fans will totally dig Black Valleys too... So come on by, that's Friday, October 1st at 4pm, to check out the first ever Black Valleys performance!!

On Land, In Store!

Hopefully SF locals (and nearby folks, and travelers from far places) all already know about this year's edition of the Root Strata-curated On Land Festival, happening next week, Thursday through Sunday, September 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th. Performers include Oneohtrix Point Never, Barn Owl, Daniel Higgs, Xela, Pulse Emitter, Rene Hell, Bill Orcutt, The Alps, White Rainbow, Starving Weirdos, Grouper, Grasslung, Higuma, and many many more. We've got tickets for sale here at AQ.

And, we're also gonna be hosting a special On Land related instore that weekend!

featuring the new duo of
ILYAS AHMED + LIZ HARRIS (Grouper)

and
CHRISTINA CARTER (Charalambides)

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 5th
2 o'clock pm
right here at AQ

Lau Nau, instore soon

Got another special instore performance coming up soon, we're excited to host an appearance by Finland's Laura Naukkarinen aka Lau Nau this weekend!

that's...

Sunday, July 18th
5pm

Don't miss it!

Here's what we said about Lau Nau's two albums for the Locust label, Kuutarha and Nukkuu:

Ahh, Finland. We've said that before. Now perhaps people in Finland think about California the way we think about Finland. But of course they'd be wrong. We don't have any analog to Moomins trolling about in our forests. Whereas our fantasies about that far-off land are quite accurate. At least, judging by the ongoing gurgle of cd-rs and tapes and cds and such flowing from their fertile "free-folk" underground, from Kemialliset Ystavat to Avarus to Kiila. And recordings like Lau Nau's Kuutarha just make our fantasies of Finland more and more vivid and otherworldly. Lau Nau is Laura Naukkarinen and a few friends. She's a very lovely singer, a member of Kiila, Paivansade, and Anaksimandros. Here her melodic Finnish-language vocals are set to droneily folkish backing, making for quitely distorted lullabies. Finnophiles will agree that this could also definitely be compared to Islaja, but perhaps rawer, more broken down and abstract. And to make a Finland-California comparison, well, this could basically be a Finnish version of Jewelled Antler's Franciscan Hobbies, with Laura Naukkarien's vocals. So very very nice. (Hmm, which came first? Jewelled Antler or the these Finnish forest folk folks? Doesn't matter, it's the zeitgeist we guess!)
For some reason, we like to look at the list of instruments and non-instruments used on records like these, maybe you do to, so here goes: acoustic bass, bass recorder, five-stringed kantele, acoustic guitar, tenor recorder, violin, bamboo flute, colorful juice glasses, mortar, mandolin, witch laugh megaphone, baby's rattle, bike bells, banjo, cowbells, electric guitar, organ, willow whistle, tablas, percussion, cymbals, comb, beer cans, tamboura...

Lau Nau's Nukuu walks an incredibly fine line between the expansive forms and consistent density and texture of drone music, while also hiding within that density many structural shifts more akin to folk music. Watching her music vibrate between these two poles is the main attraction on this record, but remarkably, she finds an incredible amount of detail and freedom to explore between them. The songs often anchor in centrifugal clusters of tone and texture, looping and feasting on themselves, while occasionally a lyrical vocal passage, or a particularly noteworthy electronic or acoustic phrase will emerge to a more singular position in the mix. Other songs however, are less roiling and give the listener the opportunity to bask in the delicacy and winsome precision in Lau's voice, sometimes creaky and childlike, other times whispered and ghostly. Lau's decisions regarding the modalities and textures of her instrumentation, as well as the cadences of her lyrics, sung in Suomi, all reflect Finland's liminal position between the influences of Europe and Asia. That said, given her lo-fi recording approach at times, she can sound eerily similar to some of the '78s we've been graced with in the past year from Dust-to-Digital's Victrola Favorites and Black Mirror collections. The obvious comparisons to Islaja and Kuupuu, her collaborators in Hertta Lussu Assa, yields Lau a more innocent, gentle, and dare we say motherly distinction, as opposed to the bewitching dark humor of the other two. Without indulging her biography too much, it is worth noting Lau gave birth to a son in the interim since her last album. Apparently much of the record was written while her child was sleeping, and so too it is titled, "sleeps." Naturally it follows that there are a few lullabies in the mix, but there is also a keen sense of independence, as though these songs are about digesting much more than motherhood, a feet in itself. Like another Scandinavian luminary on this list, El Perro Del Mar, Lau butts up against an almost hymnal like intimacy at times, though her work is naturally more feral, and less controlled and crystalline. Fans of all things Finnish will obviously be pleased, but those who've enjoyed Natural Snow Buildings, acts from the Dronevolk compilation, and even Valet will also find themselves gently coaxed into a similar but challenging musical terrain. All told, atmospheric and entrancing, subtle and intelligent, composed and vulnerable, Nukkuu comes highly recommended.

Strotter pics, video

The Strotter Inst. instore we had on Wednesday was awesome. It involved 3 specially rigged turntables, lots of rubber bands, and masking tape! Here's a photo Andee took (with an arty filter on his iPhone, if you're wondering):

For more pics, and video, go here to our Facebook page, we posted 'em there. And sign up to be our friend on FB if you haven't already!

Instore tomorrow!

Hey (local or nearby) folks! Be sure to come by the store tomorrow, Wednesday June 16th, as we're hosting a very special instore performance - STROTTER INST. from Switzerland!

It ought to be really interesting... customized turntable rhythmscapes and mysterious mechanized drones! Don't miss it.

That's this Wednesday, June 16th, at 6pm here at Aquarius.

Here's our recent review of Strotter's most recent release, a limited 10" we still have a few of in stock:

Got a few copies of this avant turntable masterpiece back in, figured we'd relist it in anticipation of the almost for sure upcoming Strotter Inst instore!
We are huge fans of weird turntable music, from Jeck, to Gum, to Otomo Yoshihide, to Martin Tetrault, but as much as we love all of those folks, our heart belongs to Strotter Inst., aka, Christoph Hess, an older Swiss turntable mad scientist, who creates Frankensteinian record players with multiple arms, weird obstructions forcing the needle to jump and skip, strange strings and rubber bands, that the moving parts pluck and strike, all creating gorgeous mechanical symphonies of sound, with JUST the player, when the manipulated records are added (and they often are NOT), things only get more expansive and lush and amazing.
This latest release from Hess finds his interest in fucking with lps and their players extending to even the pressing process, with the various tracks mastered at different speeds, requiring a small diagram on the label demonstrating which part of which side plays at which speed. Not that it necessarily matters, as Hess' crazy sonic concoctions sound great at any speed.
The sounds here follow on from those on the many other records of his we've reviewed, like some sort of minimal DIY krautrock, or a band like Avarus, populated exclusively by homebuilt noise making robots, all assembled from turntables, it is unbelievable to hear these sounds and know they were designed and planned by Hess, but it's the machines that are creating these gorgeous hypnotic rhythmscapes.
Hypnotic, repetitive, cyclical, but always shifting subtly, crackle, scrape, rumble, hiss, skip, all deftly arranged into propulsive grooves, the rubber bands offering up melody, strange rubbery tones, percussive, but definitely melodic, while the turntable itself, when not striking or plucking the bands, unleashes strange grinding rhythms, peppered with percussive scapes, haunting textural whirs, the rhythms almost tribal, often skeletal and sparse, but just as often dense and layered, when the records are included in the sound making, the various manipulated grooves, spit out even more strange clicks and moans and bleeps and even some strangely appropriate counter rhythms.
Absolutely fantastic stuff, we would imagine as amazing to see as to hear, lucky for us, there's a good chance, Hess will be in the US soon, and will hopefully be visiting aQ for a demonstration / performance.

Last week's Jooklo instore video

Here's footage Andee shot of of the rad instore performance that took place here last Tuesday, by cosmic Italian free improv outfit Jooklo Duo, enjoy:



Or, watch it on our special aQuarius YouTube page.

Instore Sunday: Author & Punisher!

Tristan Shone aka Author & Punisher brings his one-of-a-kind heavy music making machinery to AQ tomorrow, Sunday April 11th at 4pm for a free instore appearance. We can't wait. Here's a teaser:



Definitely not to be missed!

Pure Ecstasy AQ instore video on Pitchfork

We just noticed, Pitchfork has posted a video clip from the recent instore by Pure Ecstasy here at AQ. You'll find it here: http://pitchfork.com/tv/#/episode/2103-pure-ecstasy/1

Nice!

Silver Pines @ AQ, video

Turns out, someone in the audience remembered their video camera, found this clip on YouTube, nice!

Pics from the awesome instore last week

Andee didn't bring his new video camera to the Silver Pines / Pure Ecstasy instore last Thursday like he did to the bus, d'oh, but Allan did snap a few stills with his phone...

That's Pure Ecstasy in action, above... and below, the blurriness perhaps being indicative of their shoegazey psych sounds...


And here's Silver Pines. You can't see the guitarist or drummer in this photo, but they're in the pictures above, since they play bass and drums in Pure Ecstasy as well!


Thanks again to these fine folks from Austin for doing the instore at AQ, it was great! And thanks to all who turned out to see 'em!

Silver Pines / Pure Ecstasy instore!

We're pleased to be starting the new year off with a cool instore right away, this week in fact, we'll be hosting Silver Pines along with related act Pure Ecstasy here at AQ for a free instore performance on Thursday, January 7th, 6pm. Be sure to be here!

Here's what we said about Silver Pines' full-length "Forces":

We weren't sure what to expect of this, when one slow night we were going through a pile of cd submissions and it was the last thing we put on. But we were instantly floored! We didn't really know too much about this band except they were from San Marcos, TX and recently relocated to Austin, having dropped off the cd-r with us when they were on tour (we had mistakenly assumed at first they were local!).
Silver Pines revel in a sound that can be best described as shoegazey stoner country-rock. Thick, warm, slow-burning and gauzy with lots of reverbed slide guitar and heavy psych amp fuzz underscoring the female singer's pretty heavy-lidded drawled vocals, the songs on Forces remind us of smoky perfumed parlors from a forgotten age. The kind of music that instantly transports you to an a dreamy antiquated time but in a way that seems refreshingly unfamiliar and charmed. Reminiscent of a fuzzier more narcoleptic Mazzy Star or a more heavier slow-rocking Beach House, Silver Pines has taken us all quite by surprise by their majestic grace and atmospheric beauty. Soooo good!! Hopefully this won't be the last we hear from this band. Each cd-r hand silkscreened and colored. Already assured a spot on our top ten lists for the year. Don't miss out!!!

And also what we wrote re: Pure Ecstasy's recent 7" debut, "Future Nostalgia":

Pure Ecstacy comes from the same home-grown Austin scene as Yellow Fever, Silent Land Time Machine and Smokey Emery, and includes members of Silver Pines. This is their first self-released 7" of lackadaisical lo-fi stoner rock, taking its time to unfurl through hypnotic washes of wah'd and delayed guitar and low-key vocals that slowly build, reminding us a bit of Ducktails on a breezy Beach Boysish roadtrip through the American heartland. Only 50 copies of this 7" were made with hand assembled spraypainted covers.

Should be rad, so come on by Thursday!

Van Wissem rocking out yesterday at AQ

Jozef Van Wissem instore!

Hey folks! Thanks for coming out to the Yo La Tengo instore last Sunday, it was kinda crazy but so much fun. The band were fantastic, and so very sweet. They told us they had a great time. If you missed it, sorry, we did have to turn a few folks away at the door 'cause it was packed, but our friend Brady filmed some of it, check it out here.

So, since that went so well, let's keep the instore ball rolling. We've got avant-lutist Jozef Van Wissem playing here on Wednesday, October 28th, at 5:30 pm!

Here's what we said about his last record, "A Priori":

We have become increasingly enamored with the recordings of Dutch renaissance and baroque lute player Jozef Van Wissem, whether it be through his solo output or through his many collaborations with guitarists Gary Lucas, Tetuzi Akiyama and most recently James Blackshaw (Brethren Of The Free Spirit). You wouldn't think that there would be such wide-ranging approaches to such an antique instrument, yet with each release, we're let into a new realm of sonic possibility. Sometimes it's classical deconstructions; using palindromes, mirroring, backwards compositions and cut-up techniques. Sometimes it's more Takoma-style fingerpicking and bottleneck playing. Or more avant, flinging sparse and reductive fragments of loosely connected tones into large voids of silence. Or augmented by subtle electronics and field recordings of airports and other public spaces. On his latest release A Priori, arguably his prettiest and most engaging to date, Van Wissem pushes forward the beauty of the melodic form but frames it in a stark restraint. Using a glacial pendulum-like progression and D minor tuning (the most melancholic of all tunings), Wissem establishes an up-down-up riff taking a pause between each turn before repeating, letting the tones ring out over the empty spaces. Occasionally he lets subtle nuances like an octave change or a bottleneck run appear, yet he takes great pains to avoid filling the space unnecessarily. With each song on A Priori, he explores this limitation to its outermost boundaries that connects each piece to the whole, forcing our headspace to slow down to this intensely meditative pace in order to experience its lovely tonal revelations. If Earth 2 was transcribed for renaissance lute, it might sound something like this. Liner notes by David Tibet of Current 93. Highly recommended!

Van Wissem is also playing some other shows in the Bay Area that week, here's the info on those:

Thursday 10/29 @ Amnesia Bar, SF w/ Mira Cook
Saturday 10/31 @ Totally Intense Fractal Mind Gaze Hut, Oakland w/ Jim Haynes and Gregg Kowalsky

We've always wanted to see Van Wissem so we're pretty excited! And it should be even more, um, intimate than the YLT instore...