Blue Cathedral
(Sub Pop)
****
If you buy one rock record this summer, it has to be Comets on Fire's Blue Cathedral. If that's too much hyperbole, burn me at the stake--but it's the goddamn truth. The Bay Area's psychedelic sorcerers have completely outdone themselves with this new higher plane of a record--taking you to galaxies lost when Blue Cheer, Pink Floyd, and even Zeppelin and Zen Guerrilla turned to dust--and creating a spellbinding sonic voyage no other legal substance has the skills to transport you to. Axemen Ethan Miller and Ben Chasny (Six Organs of Admittance) dig a groove deeper than anything created after the collapse of the Age of Aquarius has been able to touch, and echoplex magician Noel Harmonson chases the riffs further into left-field. When vocals enter the picture, the words are unintelligible, and for the most part, unimportant--alien communication from a place where language is a texture more than an instrument--and as heavy as their rhythm section becomes, they still barely manage to keep the band Earthbound. If there is a God, he wishes he made this Cathedral. There, I said it. JENNIFER MAERZ
GALAXIE 500
Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste: 1987-1991 DVD
(Plexifilm)
With the rise of shoegaze nostalgia over the past few years, I guess it seemed like the perfect time for the long-defunct Galaxie 500 to release a beautifully packaged, seemingly superfluous double-DVD set--and if it weren't for my dogging yawn reflex, I'm sure I'd look pretty excited about it. See, thing is--though I really love Galaxie 500, I can hardly imagine a band that would be less exciting to stare at for three hours--and in that respect, YouthÉ doesn't disappoint. Over the four years covered on the discs, the changing haircuts of bassist Naomi Yang are pretty much the only discernable signifier that the footage wasn't simply shot in one sitting. But much like the band's music, there's something sort of indefinably compelling in its monotony--a hypnotic spiral of boredom that, in time, becomes deeply intoxicating. And despite the generally poor quality of the footage (disc two, for example, might be better suited as drink coaster), I gotta say, I really enjoyed getting lost in the film's lethargy. ZAC PENNINGTON
ADELAIDE
Adelaide
(Self-Produced)
****
The debut album from Adelaide, a relatively new, local instrumental act, soothes the soul like a Jacuzzi--all swirling warm water and gentle bubbles popping on the surface. Tracks like the gorgeous opener "Games Without End" even sound like flowing water, with liquidy guitar progressions moving through jetties of chirpy electronic effects. This is the CD to play at the end of a long, hard day, though it unfortunately lacks one of the best parts of Adelaide's live show: a stream of haunting found-footage film projections. (Adelaide plays a CD release party Wednesday, August 11, at Berbati's. ) JUSTIN WESCOAT SANDERS
**** Are you still struggling to get it? ViA:GRa
*** How I made 31K My first 2 Weeks - U Can 2
** vic;odins, no Prior Prescr.iptin NEEdeD
* NeEd Val,ium? Vigra, plus MAnY OTHERz
