My buying power took a hit over the holidays (that’ll happen), but I did manage to put in an order for recommended Dutch rockers Astrosoniq‘s first full-length before the New Year hit. I’ve decided to make it a Buried Treasure series as I work my way through their releases — you can find their newest album, Quadrant, reviewed here and a post about 2002′s Soundgrenade here — since the one record that actually got recommended to me was 2006′s Speeder People and I haven’t gotten there yet. Kind of taking the scenic route.

I found Son of A.P. Lady — released on Freebird Records in 2000 — after an exhausting search. The usual haunts were a no-dice; All That is Heavy, eBay and Amazon, Gemm, Alone Records, Kozmik Artifactz and a few others all coming up empty. I finally found it on the Amazon UK site for about $20 from a user named USAcid King. It was about $20 with shipping and the exchange rate, but made all the more worth it by the foil gatefold digipak the CD comes in. Not to mention no one else in the world seemed to have it, so my options were limited.

Son of A.P. Lady confirms what I found out listening to Soundgrenade, namely that the genre-defying quirkiness of Quadrant wasn’t just a fluke or sudden shift in sound. That adventurous spirit was nascent in the band on Soundgrenade, and this being an even earlier record, it definitely is here too, but with the outright funk of “Earthquake,” the reveling doom of “Afterlife Rulers” and the buzzsaw stoner groove of “Doomrider,” there’s no question it’s been in Astrosoniq from the start. More than ever, I feel like I’m late to the party.

They’ve made Son of A.P. Lady available for free download on their website, so I guess on some level my buying it was pointless, but screw it, the artwork is awesome and the album rules. Hooked in the gruff vocals and nod-worthy riff of “You Loose,” I can’t say I wasted my money, and with 2004′s Made in Oss and Speeder People still to go, I feel like I’ve got a better understanding of how Astrosoniq grew into their asskickery.

Okay, so I kind of screwed this one up. Last month, when I went on (at length, as I will) about the genre-defying amazingness of Dutch rockers Astrosoniq‘s fourth album, Quadrant, reader Mathieu left a comment recommending I pick up 2006′s Speeder People, which he thought was better.

The thing is, I do most of my online CD shopping these days while intoxicated. As such, when I placed my most recent order at the All That is Heavy webstore, I selected 2002′s Soundgrenade instead. Whoops. Hey, at least I tried, and it’s not like the album I came out of it with is terrible. But when I listened through it for the first time, I said to myself, “Wow, these guys really made a jump from their third album to their fourth,” not realizing that in fact there were seven years, another album and an EP between Soundgrenade and Quadrant.

You can hear some of the stylistic bravery that shows up on Astrosoniq‘s latest, though. They bring in a little of that playful country sound on “Evil Rules in Showbizzland,”  and the disco rock of “So be It” could certainly be a precursor to the techno excursion that crops up on the latter half of “As Soon as They Got Airborne,” but one album is hardly an answer to the other. Rather, Soundgrenade shows Astrosoniq at an earlier stage in their development. The vocals remind more of John Garcia, and the album as a whole is a lot closer to stoner rock than Quadrant really got. I guess they grew up at some point between the two.

What point that might have been, however, I don’t yet know. This calls for further investigation! Nonetheless, even though I was too much of a dope to get it right when it came down to actually ordering the disc, thanks to Mathieu for the recommendation. Maybe when I finally get Speeder People I’ll post a “Recommended Buried Treasure Pt. 6-2″ and go all Final Fantasy X on your asses. I’ll allow a moment for that reference to sink in…

Sometimes I run into bands I don’t want to check out just because they’re so highly recommended they can’t possibly live up to the hype. Case in point: Toner Low from The Netherlands. Everything I’d ever heard about them rounded out to, “Oh my god this is the best shit ever you need to hear it right now why are you still standing here go listen to it it’s as good as Sleep,” with emphasis on that last part. As good as Sleep? Come on, man. Your name better be John Garcia if you’re gonna talk that kind of crap.

But, because it was bound to happen eventually, I recently snagged a copy of Toner Low‘s aptly-named second full-length, II, from a certain interwebby shop I probably don’t even need to name at this point (hint: it was All that is Heavy). Even after it came, I sat and stared at it for a long while before putting it on. “Oh yeah, think you’re so good?” Holding the hype against the band when the band had literally nothing to do with the hype isn’t exactly fair, but neither is life, so screw it. Alright, Toner Low. Bring it on.

And they did. For a solid hour of Sunn and Orange-amped stonerly psych drone doom with, yes, a Sleep influence, but stretched into four Goastsnake-thick numbers-only tracks all over 13 minutes long. Parts reminded me of Ufomammut‘s take on heavy and sprawling psychedelia, but II was less outwardly experimental and more bent on riff worship and dooming out. I’ll say this for it: it was fucking s l o w — and yes, that is absolutely meant as a compliment. So many bands out there think they’re playing slow just because they’re not Slayer-speed thrash. No dice. Toner Low is the slow’s slow. They’re slow like continental shifts. Slower than those days at school where the clock moves backwards. Really, really slow.

And they’re slow too.

As it happened at the time I was listening, I needed a good dose of slow, so it was perfect. I don’t know if it’s as good as Sleep, since that’s like saying Sleep is as good as Sabbath, but I’ve no doubt II is in line for many return trips. Now just to track down a copy of their 2005 self-titled and I’ll be good to go for Toner Low. Obscure European distros here I come.

Though the DVD side of Holland power trio 3Speed Automatic‘s dual disc (that’s CD on one side, DVD on the other), Villa Rocka (Freebird Records) is set up for 5.1 Surround and my television is wired for numbers nowhere near that high, I still got down with the live video for “Do it Again,” which is the only song included in any form on the DVD for which the audio can’t be found on the opposite side of the disc. Those who’d track down audio of that song need to look up 3SA‘s 2006 demo. Or their MySpace page. Whatever’s easier.

As regards the songs on the CD side of Villa Rocka, the disc starts out like sitar-infused Queens of the Stone Age circa Songs for the Deaf, which is not necessarily a bad thing. And though the story of how this album came to be is kind of confusing, I think I’ve just about nailed it down.

No Man’s Land was self-released by the band in 2004. An outlet for that which generally qualifies for psychedelic and awesome, Nasoni Records signed on to put it out on vinyl that same year. Now, apart from the aforementioned demo in 2006, 3Speed Automatic haven’t been up to much, recording-wise, in the meantime. What we have with Villa Rocka is a CD reissue of No Man’s Land accompanied (on the same disc) by a bonus DVD featuring a video of the cumbersomely and referentially titled “Who Knows What Evil Lurks in the Hearts of Men…the Shadow Knows,” that live clip, the 5.1 mix of the record and a still-photo slideshow from a run through Europe the band did at some point along the line. Villa Rocka is No Man’s Land-plus.

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