Latest additions & updates to our catalogue:

God Is An Astronaut - All Is Violent All Is Bright. CD. (Label: Revive Records, Cat.No: RVECD 005) The Co. Wicklow band's second album, first released in 2005. This releases features their build ups from serene ambience to searing intensity and is a closer representation of their live sound.	God Is An Astronaut - End Of The Beginning. CD. (Label: Revive Records, Cat.No: RVECD 005) The Irish experimentalists debut album, first released on their own label in 2002. This eleven tracker featured the singles "‘From Dust To The Beyond and the title track which were both heavily rotated on MTV. Enhanced CD features the three promos to the singles, and MP3 / pictures from their performance at the Oxegen Festival in 2004.
God Is An Astronaut - Far From Refuge. CD. (Label: Revive Records, Cat.No: RVCD 008) God Is An Astronaut are an instrumental, post-rock three piece hailing from the Glen of the Downs, Co. Wicklow, Ireland. They formed in 2002 and are capable of switching between serene ambience and searing intensity in the blink of the eye. This is their third album, new for 2007. Includes: "Radau", "Tempus Horizon" and "Grace Descending."	Sonic Youth - Destroyed Room: B-Sides And Rarities. Dble LP. (Label: Goofin, Cat.No: GOO012LP) A great double LP for completists, a collection of near-hidden Sonic Youth gems hand-picked by the band, bringing together songs from throughout the band’s tenure at Geffen Records. This set concentrates on rare international singles, B-sides and limited edition compilation only tracks. Deluxe, double-vinyl LP released on the band’s own Goofin Label. Twelve tracks including: "Razor Blade", "3 Sectional Love Seat", "Beautiful Plateau" and "Fauxhemians."
Sonic Youth - Destroyed Room. CD. (Label: UM3, Cat.No: 1715711) A special little compilation that brings together previously unreleased and hard to get gems from the bands whole career. The collection focuses on tracks previously available only on vinyl, limited edition compilations and b-sides that only appeared on international singles. A great way for Youth fans to complete their collection, all of the material was cherry picked by the band and has been remastered.	Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped. LP. (Label: Goofin, Cat.No: GOOFIN11) Exclusive limited vinyl edition of the latest album by the long running, genre defying band. Recorded in the dying days of 2005 and the new dawn of 2006 at New York's Sear Sound, Rather Ripped exhibits Sonic Youth in positive vibration mode. These twelve songs of harmonic/melodic surprise feature vocals by Thurston Moore, Kim Gordan and Lee Ranaldo. Straight up Sonic Youth field on fire. Artwork exclusive to LP.
Mushroom - Glazed Popems. Dble CD. (Label: Black Beauty, Cat.No: BB72005) Pyschedelic groovers Mushroom move onto pastoral, acid folk-rock on disc one of this 2CD set. Mellotron, electric harpsichord and acoustic guitar give it a distinct flavout, blending 'Ummagumma'- era Floyd, '70s Crimson and the folk-heavy sound of 'Led Zep III' They haven't gone totally prog (but they're getting there): appearances from members of OM Trio, Oranj Symphonette, Jolie Holland, Howard Tate & Slovenly not only help to keep the 'outsider' vibe flowing, but steer it into wild space jam territory, with jazzy beats and freaked out post rock on disc 2.	Invaders - Various. CD. (Label: Kemado, Cat.No: KEM040) An appetite-whetting compilation including unreleased and rare tracks from several of the heaviest, sludgiest, doomiest and generally greatest new bands on the metal scene to day: Sword, Black Mountain, Witchcraft, Pelican, The Fucking Champs, Wolfmother and many many more. 18 tracks of unreleased and rare materials from the elephant-heaviest, muscle-car drivingest, underfoot-tramplingest utter bastards of rock.
Sonic Youth - Sister. CD. (Label: UM3, Cat.No: 4245142) "I went away to see a an old friend of mine/ Her sister came over, she was out of her mind" So runs the instantly memorable opening couplet on 'Schizophrenia' the opening track from the fifth (and to some the finest) Sonic Youth studio album. Still noise auteurs at heart, but with a growing pop sensibility and ever-growing musical aptitude that belied their supposedly prog-hating punk roots, the Youth (with drummer Steve Shelley, who came on board during the recording of EVOL, now firmly in place) hit several peaks on this album, such as the aforementioned opening track, the mournful and eerie 'Kotton Krown', the raging 'Catholic Block' and the full-throttle aggression of 'Tuff Gnarl'. It could still veer towards music for self-consciously arty students at times, but by now everyone who had any sense had realised that a major new force in music was here. However, the warm sound (possibly their most major-key album) and ability to tread the line betwixt experimentalism and self indulgence were the major contributing factors to this album's success, and the reasons why it has endured so well with time.	Sonic Youth - Goo. CD. (Label: Geffen, Cat.No: 4242972) The first major label album, shortly after which the Teen Spirit floodgates opened and the besuited minions signed anyone with floppy hair and a check shirt. Coming as it does between the absolute epoch that was 'Daydream Nation' and the grunge-by-association 'Dirty', 1990's 'Goo' is oft overlooked in the pantheon of Sonic Youth milestones: yet, it has actually sold more than any of their other albums, and features several things now inextricably associated with the band. Aside from the songs: 'Kool Thing' (another almost-hit) 'Tunic (Song For Karen)' which highlighted Kim Gordon's strange obsession with the Carpenters' drummer/vocalist , 'My Friend Goo' 'Disappearer' 'Cinderella's Big Score' and 'Dirty Boots', the cover art featured the "I stole my sister's boyfriend. . ." cartoon strip that is now synonymous with the band's image, and the release gave birth to their first commercially available video. Whilst nowhere near the standard of its two preceding albums, 'Goo' was an important development in the story of indie rock, as it was the sound of a band signed to a major label yet still defiantly on their own terms, and most importantly, still sounded like Sonic Youth.
Sonic Youth - Experimental Jet Set, Trash And No Star. CD. (Label: Geffen, Cat.No: 4246322) The last in this series of reissues, and the end of another phase of the band's career. After 'Dirty' rode in on grunge's coat tails (a coat the band had helped to sew in the first place), the peripheral fans slipped away, and the Youth were left the way they should have always been: America's most respected underground rock band. That said, there's less actual rocking, or even discordant noise and feedback, on this album than one is used to from them: whilst still challenging everyone's preconceptions of what one can do with an electric guitar, and still more adventurous than anything released by their West Coast contemporaries, the sound appers to be the closest they ever got to 'laid back'. By their own standards, 'Androgynous Mind' and 'Self Obsessed And Sexee' are pop songs: on the hypnotic, ringing 'Bull In The Heather' (their last UK chart hit single) the normally rueful Ms Gordon sounds almost fragile and inviting. 'Screaming Skull' and 'In The Mind Of The Bourgeois Reader' are still noisy enough to please the hardcore fans, but for the most part, this is a stripped down and sraightahead approach, Which, if one thinks about it logically, is the most unconventional, uncorporate (well, not totally- they were, and are, signed to Geffen) and therefore punk thing they could have done at the time. After all, we love them because they're awkward. May they ever remain so. Trivia for regular Freak Emporium customers: on the London date of this tour, they were supported, at Thurston Moore's request, by- Porcupine Tree!! The big progger.	Sonic Youth - EVOL. CD. (Label: Geffen, Cat.No: 4245132) With its epochal front cover starring the enigmatic actress Lung Leg- an image as important to American indie noise as 'Eddie The Ed' is to metal fans- 'EVOL' (actually pronounced 'Love Backwards' according to some) became the reputation-cementing breakthrough album for Sonic Youth. However, the band were EVOL-ving, and whilst still gleefully uncommercial, there was a greater sense of direction and purpose on this release (not to mention a better production, even by their lo-fi standards) than on any of its predecessors, and several of the songs are still among the most requested in the band's repertoire- such as 'Tom Violence' 'Death To Our Friends' 'Shadow Of A Doubt' and the track that became acknowledged as their stone classic- 'Expressway To Yr Skull'. Compared to the whimsical retro-pop that the UK indie scene was churning out at this point, this album made US alt-rock sound positively incendiary. The CD-only track 'Bubblegum' also hinted at a pop potential the band had hitherto ignored or weren't even aware of- although they still remained happily miles from the mainstream.
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation. CD. (Label: UM3, Cat.No: 4245152) So here it is then- the band's unequivocal, untouchable masterpiece. The sum of everything they had achieved up to that point, and the springboard for everything that they would become. By now noticed by the media to the extent that an episode of 'The South Bank Show' was dedicated to them, the pressure was on to deliver something special -or so people thought. The fact is, Sonic Youth have never delivered anything other than what they bloody well felt like, even after the major labels came sniffing- it just so happened that at this point they experienced their greatest creative rush, and crystallised the whole essence of US indie-noise rock. "Teenage Riot" (alongside 'Expressway. . .', probably their best known song) became an anthem for the slacker generation (who ignored the actual meaning of the lyric): 'Eric's Trip' had a band named after it, 'Silver Rocket' (maybe their most straightforward punk rock tune) is now the name of a popular London indie club, and the likes of 'Candle' 'Total Trash' 'The Sprawl' and 'Kissability' were simply brilliant songs, the likes of which they have yet to better. Of course, Sonic Youth being Sonic Youth, the single was none of these, but 'Providence'- three minutes of distorted piano and speaker feedback over which a taped phone call to Thurston Moore from fireHOSE leader Mike Watt is played, asking the singer if he had mislaid some sheet music whilst pissed out of his brains in the Rhode Island town of the same name. Needless to say it didn't chart. More important to say is that no self-respecting fan of American alternative music can afford to be without this record. Definitive.	Sonic Youth - Confusion Is Sex. CD. (Label: Geffen, Cat.No: 4245112) Technically the New York no-wave gods' second album (after their eponymous mini-LP release) but often referred to as their first, 'Confusion Is Sex' is the album where Sonic Youth began to define their sound, and as such is a vitally important part of American post punk history. Raw, primitive (the cover of the Stooges' "I Wanna Be Your Dog" is taken straight from a cassette recording out of someone's pocket in some sweaty Manhattan fleapit) , sparse, minimalist, almost atonal and even drab to some, (and yet somehow still fascinating after all these years), the album sets the tone with 'She Is In A Bad Mood' and continues in pretty much the same vein throughout. The tracks sung by bassist/ figurehead Kim Gordon, such as 'Protect Me You' and 'Making The Nature Scene' are the eeriest of the lot, and are far from easy listening of any kind, so much so that they make their obvious mentors (the Velvets) seem like Peter Paul and Mary by comparison. The story of America's most fascinating band of the 80s begins here. . .

© Delerium Music 2008. Web Site written and maintained by Matt Platts for Paragon Digital. Please see www.vatloophole.co.uk for information on why we closed down.