B3G1Free

Last Visible Dog had a buy 3 get 1 free sale and I had to take advantage of it to fill the holes in my LVD collection. Due to some sort of screw up, my order got delayed but they threw a forthcoming compilation as a bonus. A truly fantastic label with great service. Here's the haul:

Miminokoto - Orange Garage
Miminokoto - Live
Tsurubami - Kaina
Fursaxa - Amulet
Eastern Fox Squirrels - Eastern Fox Squirrels
Black Forest/Black Sea - Radiant Symmetry
Ashtray Navigations - The Love That Whirrs
Tivol - Interstellar Overbike
Various - Crows Of The World Vol. 1 (2 disc set)

Also arriving in the mail was the debut demo EP from local San Diego band Astra. I caught their gig at The Casbah many months ago and loved their set. I usually don't buy CD-Rs but since it's their only release I had to get a copy. Three tracks and nearly 30 minutes of music on it. Can't wait to give it a spin.

Tequila Sunrise

Philadelphia's Tequila Sunrise Records has released a pair of LPs that were put out by Scott Slimm's Archive CD label and I couldn't resist getting them. Jack Rose's recent untitled/self-titled and LSD March's 'Empty Rubious Red' both come in heavy stock sleeves on 180 gram vinyl. I like the idea of having select Archive albums released on vinyl. I know Slimm mentioned about doing some vinyl releases, but I think he should continue to do the CD (and his current DVD projects) releases with TS doing the vinyl additions.

AMT

The latest releases from Acid Mothers Temple on Important Records arrived in the mail today. The new CD is the second with their new female vocalist is being called the "cleanest" AMT album to date. The LP is a tour edition that contains a track from CD and an exclusive song not found anywhere else. Can't wait to give these a spin.

Amoeba Music

No trip to San Francisco is complete without a trip to Amoeba Music. I could have spent all weekend in the store browsing the records, CDs and DVDs. Lou's Records is great, but the selection at Amoeba is unbelievable. I tried to buy mostly albums that were rare, that I couldn't at Lou's or those having a cheaper price than Lou's. Now to the long list, which was a deal considering many of those were cheap:

CDs:

Big Business - Head For The Shallow
Blue Cheer - Vincebus Eruptum
KTL - KTL 2
Tetuzi Akiyama - Pre-Existence
Tom Waits - Nighthawks At The Diner
Tom Waits - Heartattack And Vine
Tom Waits - The Black Rider

LPs:

Yawning Man - Pot Head (10")
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Green River
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Bayou Country
Causa Sui - Causa Sui (2LP)
Brant Bjork And The Bros - Saved By Magic (2LP)
Tool - Opaite
Tool - Undertow (2LP)

DNT

I put in order to DNT Records for the latest from Raccoo-oo-oon, who happen to be one of my favorite bands at the moment. Arriving was their new CD 'Behold Secret Kingdom' on Release The Bats, a self-titled 7" from Gilgongo Records and the third entry into their 'Mythos Folkways' LP series on Woodsist. DNT also threw a freebie 7" from Shearing Pinx which was kind of them. I'm always looking for new tunes.

All That's Psych?

I had to put in a good sized order to All That's Heavy to pick up some new releases and take advantage of a couple of good deals. New release from two California psychedelic/space rock bands highlight the order.

California's Mammatus and Earthless (my favorite local band) certainly avoid the sophomore slump with the best music they've yet to record.

Another sophomore album, which has been delayed for a long time, comes from the reformed line-up of Sgt. Sunshine. I've read they have a different sound on this one, but I hope it's not too drastically different from their excellent debut.

For the deals, I picked up the first album from Wino's latest band The Hidden Hand along with their split with Wooly Mammoth. For a freebie, I chose Nebula's Dos EPs collection of a few new tracks and two of their older, out of print EPs.

Fu Wax

The new Fu Manchu album arrived on clear vinyl yesterday. Seems like I pre-ordered it a long time ago from Century Media. The artwork has been changed to fit with the larger space and it's nice to see the lyrics we also kept. My only complaints are that there is a bit too much noise at the start of 'Sensai Vs. Sensai' and a weird bit of noise after the end of 'Knew It All Along'. Not sure if that's the pressing or limited to just my copy. Other than that, it's one of the finest Fu Manchu albums in awhile and sound great on the turntable.

Package From Corwood

The latest Jandek album, 'Manhattan Tuesday', arrived on Wednesday. It's a two disc live set from a show that took place in New York on September 6, 2005. The representative from Corwood plays Korg synthesizers and sings and is joined on stage by Loren Connors (electric guitar), Matt Heyner (bass), and Chris Corsano (drums).

The songs form a singular piece of music, entitled 'Afternoon Of Insensitivity'. The style is more akin to his album 'Glasgow Monday' which features 'The Cell'. While 'The Cell' was mostly spoken, 'Afternoon Of Insensitivity' is half sung/half spoken and features some very haunting music. After one listen I'd have to say this will likely end up being one of the best albums in the Jandek catalog.

3 Lobed And More

The latest slabs of wax from Three Lobed Recordings and a couple of CDs from At A Loss Recordings arrived on Monday and Tuesday.

Three Lobed does vinyl just the way I like it - on heavy 180g black wax. GHQ's 'Crystal Healing' has a nice gatefold sleeve that feels like it's from the 70's and because I pre-ordered it, a nice 13 minute EP on CD was thrown in as well. I've only listened to it once so far, so I don't have a concrete opinion of it. I will say that it's their most varied release so far and that the title track is fantastic, a great way to close the album. Coming in a dark, hand silk-screened cover was the latest from Yellow Swans (who go by Descension Yellow Swans on this album). Again, only one listen so far. From what I've heard from Yellow Swans, this album is less noisy than their other work.

A big thanks to At A Loss Recordings for releasing the latest album from Blutch, 'Materia', stateside. I'm glad I didn't have to pay the import price for this fine album. The other CD from At A Loss was Minsk's 2005 release 'Out Of A Center Which Is Neither Dead Nor Alive' which I had download but didn't listen to recently. Minsk recently released a new album which I will also checkout in the future. Also a thanks goes out to Stickman Distro who through in some promos with my order.