Aquarius Records

If you're buying metal and psych (and I always am) they are INDISPENSABLE. Its usually a highlight of being in SF for me to get to go there. Last time I was there my buddy Cl@y and I went about six times within a three day period. We were zombies for Aquarius.

The mailorder leaves a tiny bit to be desired in my experience, only because they've had a CD of mine on 'backorder' since before xmas, and have been holding the complete order until it arrives. I guess i could just ask them to send what they have now and cancel the damn Blues Creation CD, but I'm lazy.

Their online catalog will speak to the depth and breadth thereof. They have a particular taste for black metal and dark ambient stuff, so expect to find loads of it.

As far as ordering goes, one weird caveat is that they often have things "UNAVAILABLE OR OUT-OF-PRINT" when this simply means that their particular distributor(s) can't get it. However, I've been able to find many 'unavailable' items at other online retailers like Forced Exposure, Other Music, or even Amazon in a pinch.

I have had to cancel the odd piece of an order here and there when they weren't able to turn something up, but overall it's a great resource for just seeing what else is out there. And their new-releases bulletin is sufficiently different from other prominent online indie stores that it's worth revisiting each week.

In retrospect, this isn't a "weird" caveat at all... it's how all stores operate. Sorry, no idea what I was thinking at the time...

I've ordered 3 or 4 times from them now (I'm from the UK) and all my stuff has arrived without any problems.

DMX The Great Depression
I used to think Ice Cube had the most evil voice in hip hop. The voice I picture the devil having or some evil beast that returns to reign terror on the earth. But DMX may have finally outdone Cube. I mean his voice was always gravelly and deep and completely menacing, but too much of DMX's music was of the 'whooooah, put your hands in the air, wave em like you just don't care, whooooah, party, woooah...' variety. Slowly but surely, the music has begun to catch up with the voice and all that bloody/desolate imagery in all his videos and on all his album covers. Don't get me wrong, it's still super catchy, and you'll no doubt find your room vibrating at 2 in the morning, from some dude's boomin' system on the street outside, pumping 'The Great Depression', but this time around it's harder and colder and meaner. Still like a party, but like the party at the end of the world, on the edge of the abyss, smiling and mingling, trying to hide the fact that this shit is scaaaary!

Steve

White Hills has a new disk up there for sale, they teamed up with San Fran's White Pee. I am ordering now, and very very excited.

man, am i sick of whoever writes the reviews for their updates.

DOOOOOOOOOOOM!
LIMITED EDITION SO ACT FAST BEFORE THEY'RE GONE!
BORIS SHITS GOLD BRICKS!

some excellent lolz on this thread, would chuckle again.

For fans of Sunroof!/VCO/BCM. Sooooooooooooooo good! We could listen to this all week and write paragraph long sentences about it too, the thickest, grimiest, most blown-out bliss we've heard in a long time, so very very recommended!

Argh, how dare they like what they like???

...they like everything. more than everything else. it gets a bit cloying.

yeah, they're trying to sell stuff, i know. but it gets pavlovian with the "BORIS!" "SUPER LIMITED!" "ALREADY SOLD OUT!"

Why would you write negative reviews of albums you are trying to sell?

At least the reviews actually seem like they are written by people who have ya know listened to the records as opposed to just read the one sheet.

And they do write the odd negative (or disappointed) review actually.

as i said, they like every album better than the last album which they liked more than anything ever in the world; it's a bit much and those disappointed/negative reviews are few and far between.

points for: their reviews do read like they've heard the records, yeah, and lack the twatty "i was listening to this when you were in short pants" tone of, say, other music's reviews. (which was really funny when OM started carrying metal and tried to pass it off as something they had always, you know, meant to do...)

Gushing reviews T/S: Aquarius vs. Dusty Groove vs. Other Music!

(Also where is the fake Dusty Groove thread?)

(which was really funny when OM started carrying metal and tried to pass it off as something they had always, you know, meant to do...)

but Aquarius did THE SAME EXACT THING only about 3 years earlier!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111

i wasn't reading their stuff back then, duder, so i didn't know. besides, 2000 = noob, 2004 = POSEUR.

haha yeah see the Dusty Groove thread

I don't really have a problem with enthusiastic music fans writing in constant rhapsodic prose. It makes the times I actually agree with them strangely affecting.

(i think i even stood up for aquarius in some old thread... a few years later i just don't read anything and go for soundfiles, wonderful objective soundfiles.)

"but Aquarius did THE SAME EXACT THING only about 3 years earlier!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

To be fair they did that because they hired a bunch of metalheads and they started writing reviews.

man, am i sick of whoever writes the reviews for their updates.

if I'm not mistaken the guy who revived this thread is one of said writers

so he's like astroturfing for orders?

There was a low key celebration of aQ yesterday at the Make Out Room hosted by Andee and Allan -- it was also an impromptu fundraiser for the Ghost Ship fire victims, which was good to see. (Raised almost $400 all told IIRC.) Didn't stay for the full length but was around to be filmed for a documentary that is being put together about the store, which I gather is near completion.

So I've heard rumors there was going to be a new Aquarius store set up by former employees? Heard anything about that, Ned? The guy who told me is kinda... slightly shady. But was apparently involved in the old store at some point.

Hm. I haven't heard anything specifically about that, but I can ask around. Nobody mentioned it yesterday, but I wasn't talking to everybody.

A few days ago, I realized that the zillions of old AQ reviews have vanished from the internet. It was such an amazing resource for reading about lots of music that flew well-under the radar. RIP AQ.

My understanding is that there's going to be an archive of some sort, but I should follow up.

Eight hours of hits from Aquarius: http://www.whydoyoulikeit.com/2016/12/over-eight-hours-of-aq-hits.html

Nice!

So as I said a couple of years ago about a post-closure hail and farewell:

Didn't stay for the full length but was around to be filmed for a documentary that is being put together about the store, which I gather is near completion.

And that is out next year...but enjoy the first seven minutes. Lots of, how you say, familiar names:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_0ab_cI65E

nice!

new store that took its place kinda sucks tbh

Not a fan, no.

And another clip!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6bU7KqYP54

enjoyed both of those clips, looking forward to the film! I'll never forget my first time going into Aquarius in the late 80s when it was on 24th St in Noe Valley. I think I ended up buying a cassette of Surfer Rosa. I fell in love with the store that day

Watched that last night, a few times. Didn't expect that last ilxor cameo near the end, very nice!

I still think about their weekly email lists all the time, nothing was like those in your inbox. I'd ordered from them for years, but had never had a chance to go. In January of 2016 we booked a trip to San Francisco that was to take place in September, since it was at the top of my list for places to visit I was really bummed when I heard the news. Still made the trek down to see the sign and check out the new Stranded, which was a disappointment. At the time I put it down to still getting going, but sounds like it hasn't really improved much.

Didn't expect that last ilxor cameo near the end, very nice!

Odd thing was I didn't even recall filming that bit! We were mostly filming inside the Make Out Room.

Okay! So the long in the works documentary is about to get its premiere. If you're in the area or will be, June 3rd at the Roxie

https://sfdocfest2022.eventive.org/schedule/6266fa524f915800bc1a9d73

If you're not in the area, you'll be able to watch live in early June as part of the festival streaming setup:

https://watch.eventive.org/sfdocfest2022/play/626d8a60dfc81600dd8deaa6

I loved the knowledge and recommendations of the Aquarius staff, and had amazing conversations with them over the years (Windy Chien, Andee Connors, Allan Horrocks, Jim Haynes)

Not the first time I've said it, nor will it be the last, but I really miss their emails and recommendations. Sure, there are other sources out there, like Forced Exposure, but none that scratches the same itch as Aquarius did.

Aquarius was hilarious — those emails always got me to buy something just based on the wild enthusiasm. Totally fun.

Just off the top of my head, I have Aquarius emails for introducing me to Loop, Wooden Shjips, Weakling and Gnod and for filling in my Circle and Pharaoah Overload collections.

insert a "to thank" in there

I think everyone who owns the Weakling album bought it because of Aquarius

haha fair

It is a good album, though!

Got to see the early cut of said documentary the other day -- a very enjoyable and moving treat, and yes I am in it briefly in the opening credits and with a small but I think very well chosen bit near the end. Without really spoiling, I can say both Circle and the CONET project get some time -- no Merzbox mention but Merzbow does crop up in various contexts.

Can't wait to see this!

Get those online tickets as I mentioned and you can soon!

Online tickets ordered!

And it's live for streaming! Again, the link:

https://watch.eventive.org/sfdocfest2022/play/626d8a60dfc81600dd8deaa6

And yes indeed I'm in it briefly, at the start in the titles as noted earlier and with a quick bit at the end, but mostly it's others' stories to rightly tell.

Unfortunately life interfered in June and I didn't get to stream while it was available as part of that festival. Keep hoping there's news of a wider streaming or way to purchase this outright, but still seems to be limited to one-off screenings now and then. Looks like LA, NY, Arizona, Utah and.... Portugal on the list.

Can't believe it's been three whole years since the first footage came out!

Still waiting to see this. Hope one of these years it gets a proper release on streaming or.... anything. Seems like it's just slowly rolling out one festival screening at a time, every four to five months.

Screening coming up Sunday in North Carolina, with John Darnielle, among others! Wish I was closer, starting to feel really nervous that this is never going to get a release beyond one-off screenings.

https://catscradle.com/event/it-came-from-aquarius-records/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/

among others!

*coughs gently*

Ha, I meant that John will actually be at this specific screening!

Ah now that is true!

Okay, good news for folks if you've not seen it yet:

"It Came From Aquarius Records" the feature length documentary about the beloved, esoteric San Francisco record store announces its streaming debut via Amazon Prime begins in July.

yay! i will finally get to see it!

I'm so looking forward to seeing this, though looks like that Amazon thing didn't quite happen yet. This was posted on the official Facebook just yesterday:

This was a nice surprise!! Another ‘best of’ award for It Came From Aquarius Records!! Thanx a time to the folks at #internationaldocumentaryfilmfestival !Look for the film in the coming months in Amazon - deets soon!

Does the doc talk about when Windy and a couple others protested the Job's Daughters*/Sun City Girls (?) show by throwing paint at the performers for performing in yellow face/kabuki?

My memory of this is v. hazy, pretty sure it was Bottom Of The Hill in the 90s, not having any luck finding anything on the internet of course.

*ft members of TFUL282, Caroliner, The Double U, etc.

It was a different TFUL282 offshoot:

http://www.markprindle.com/heavenly.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Iw9-mzMgZc

Wow thank you jabers.... My memory is obviously rather compromised in my convalescence.

But just 👀 at this BK quote:

And I thought, "Here's someone who runs an underground record store, selling odious shit like Pavement and the Mountain Goats, and she considers herself less of an assimilationist than Indians running an Indian music store in Nashville? Or a Cantonese opera singer from Kowloon?"

Well that's all a snapshot in time, isn't it.

Brently went on to be in Neung Phak fwiw

thats not B.O.T.H. tho right?

Chameleon which was on Valencia btw 19th & 20th which turned into Amnesia (anyone remember The Chatterbox?).

In my mind I confused the show with Sun City Girls/3 Day Stubble show at BOTH which was also CONTROVERSIAL.

I think Pants Yell were on this label. Their show at the Cake Shop was an early memory.

So the official Facebook page mentioned some "cool news" coming in September that never materialized, and nothing at all since. It'd be really nice if 2024 was finally the year it was able to be seen without traveling to sparse private screenings.

I'd gladly pay to stream it. And I'd really gladly pay for a reprint of the "new wave music is our specialty" shirt!

Yeah, I'm absolutely ready to pay for watching this in any format.

Heh, guess this thread will be just me bumping it for my periodic disappointment over it seemingly being stuck perpetually in limbo.

Even the official Facebook page for it, which used to update on upcoming screenings and developments has turned into just updates on what the guy who runs it is listening to/reading.

Even a word of encouragement that things are in the works would be nice, but I guess this thing is just kinda dead now.

Ha, and here is said word of encouragement. Looking at August 2024 on a streaming service yet to be determined. From the official Facebook page:

Finally! I can finally say that the Aquarius Records doc will be hitting the streaming networks in August 2024. Locked in a distributor - MVD Entertainment Group - who is helping get this thing out there. Stay tuned for details on the streaming premiere date and what channels will carry it!