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Long before the current wave of musings on the ruinous city, before actual skyscrapers were sliding into oblivion, there were those Continental intellectuals who worried about the new metropolis as a monument to amnesia more than cultural advancement. Fast forward to the present, and ruins are again everywhere, this time around, according to sonic polymath Lawrence English, as spurious expressions of nostalgia. And like those before him, English ties this disingenuous form of remembering — nostalgia — to the past, but more importantly, to impoverished visions of the future. English gives this all a name: Acid Nostalgia. His most recent album, The Rest Is My Ghost, is a corrective and critique of the poverty of future thinking, and in typical fashion, English crafts a captivating work of abstraction and ambience filled with moments of tension and conflict, refusing easy resolution or premature release.
16 Aug 2026
Formed in 2012, Orchestra Of The Upper Atmosphere were an eight-piece Sheffield collective, whose work blurred ‘n’ blendend elements of prog-bound jazz-rock, jam band music, textured improv, and dreamy-to-spacy world to folk music tropes
11 Aug 2026
Scream Dream is an ultra-low-budget slice of 1980s heavy metal horror shlock. It’s a SOV offering from long-time active horror ‘n’ sleaze merchant Donald Farmer (Cannibal Hookers, Red Lips, Shark Exorcist, Scream Queens Weenie Roast )- focusing on a long-clawed, horned, and big-teethed demon connected to a up & coming/ female fronted metal band… and every time they roll into town, fans seem to disappear. Here from Visual Vengeance is a recent Blu-ray featuring directors' commentary, a few interviews, and a heavy metal horror primer.
The words classic or important are often bandied about, but I think it is fair to say both are very fitting for A Bay of Blood. The early 1970’s film was very much influenced/ help define the slash genre- it’s also a twisting ‘n’ turning mystery and darkest of dark comedies with brutal/ creative effects, and a gleeful sense of the macabre. Here from Severin is a five-disc release of the film- it features three different versions of the picture, four plus hours of extras, and a full soundtrack CD.
One Leg One Eye — And Take the Black Worm With Me
12 Aug 2026Rhins — The Invisible
12 Aug 2026Michael Hersch — Across..In Grief And Detail
11 Aug 2026Timothy McCormack — The Hand Is A Ear
11 Aug 2026Harbinger — Harbinger(VOD)
10 Aug 2026Beasts Unleashed — Beasts Unleashed (Blu Ray)
7 Aug 2026Clock DVA — White Souls In Black Suits
7 Aug 2026Vacant Brain — Gut Full Of Maggots
7 Aug 2026
Vacant Align Interview
Active since October 2025, Wisconsin’s Vacant Align is one of the more atmospheric and texturally inventive wall noise projects to appear in some time. It’s a project that takes its time in releasing work, and you can certainly hear it, as each of their releases so far is a perfectly crafted blend of expressive and engaging textures. Behind the project is John Engman, who very kindly agreed to give us an email interview
Jasper Sharp interview
In the year 1971, Nikkatsu, the oldest/ at one point, the biggest film production company in Japan. Did something quite daring/ some would say crazy- they completely switched over their production to softcore adult films, which would become known as Roman Porno. Between 1971 and 1988, the company produced around 850 of these titles. The thing that made these films stand out from general softcore films is the often creative & inventive choices made- yes, the films primal focus is sleaze, but great examples of the genre are so much more than that. In the last year or so, there has been a spate of reissues of films in the genre from labels such as 88 Films, Third Window Films, and Klubb Super 8. One of the key figures/contributors behind these releases is Jasper Sharp- one of the world's experts on the genre, and the wider Pink genre it’s connected to. Jasper kindly agreed to give us an email interview discussing his history with the genre, his contributions to releases, and the new/updated edition of his book Behind The Pink Curtain: The Complete History of Japanese Sex Cinema on Fab Press.
King Futile Interview
King Futile is the new project from Scotland-based Lea Cummings( Kylie Minoise, Official Music Team, etc), and it’s a big departure from his normal noise or retro sample & electronica sound. It's lo-fi acoustic music, with an outsider feel, and often quite tongue-in-cheek/ sharply sarcastic tone to the lyrics. So far, the project has put out three albums- Casual Misery, How To Have Fun, and Zen As Fuck. I tracked down Lea for an email interview.
Cliff Twemlow On Severin
One of last year’s real big surprises in the world of Blu-ray box sets was Bloody Legend: The Complete Twemlow Collection, as it was a wholly entertaining, fascinating, and at times heart-warming set. The Severin released boxset brought together the work of one of the UK’s unlikeliest movie moguls- Cliff Twemlow, a Mancunian bouncer/ body builder, who went on to write/star in/produce a series of low-budget/ largely SOV films in the early 80s to early 90s- these moved between action, thriller, sci-fi, and horror. His most notable/notorious film was 1983’s G.B.H., which landed on the video nasty list, though he was connected to other ten feature films, many of which got their first real full/proper release on the boxset. Opening up the set was the excellent 2023 documentary Mancunian Man: The Legendary Life of Cliff Twemlow, which really pulls you into the set. I caught up with Severn’s David Gregory and Jake West, director of Mancunian Man, to discuss the boxset and all things cliff.
