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Best Of 2020
It’s fair to say that 2020 has been a year unlike any before- which most want to forget, due to all the loss, stress & inner/outer turmoil created worldwide. But there has still been positives/ reasons -to-celebrate this year- and some of those have come from either sonic or visual mediums . Below our writers select their favourite musical, sound & film moments from the strange/ troubling year that was 2020- and as always our picks cover a wide range of genres.
Cold Light Of Day Interview with Fhiona-Louise
Cold Light Of Day is one of the more terminal bleak serial killer films ever made. The low budget 1989 British production roughly told the story of 1980’s London serial killer Dennis Nilsen. It featured largely gore-less, but very gruelling strangulation murders- all wrapped-up in grim ‘n’ grimy bed-sit setting. For many years it’s been one of the lesser-seen/ known films of the serial killer genre, which is a great pity- as yes it’s a real downer, but it’s both powerfully disturbing and harrowingly memorable. Recently Arrow Video has given the film a classy Blu Ray reissue- so we decidedly to track down the films writer/director Fhiona-Louise for a rare interview.
Rien
Someone once said that there is real joy in detail, and you can certainly use this quote to talk about the work of Swedish textured noise/ minimal walled noise venture Rien. Since 2016 the project has mined its own often distinctively reserved, yet cleverly detailed, and often highly entrancing take on noise-making- so far release around thirty release on various respected noise labels across the globe. The man behind the project Stockholm based Johan Strömvalll Hammarstedt kindly agreed to give us an email interview- Johan is also behind Gamiani, J.S.H., J S H, and runner of the excellent Swedish tape label Ominous Recordings.
Llyn Y Cwn
One of the more original & distinctive dark ambient projects to appearing in the last few years is Llyn Y Cwn. The project takes it’s influences from the ragged, vast & often brooding landscapes of Wales- with a sound that blends together blacked & often deep drones, creepy ambient dwells, and moody-to- eerier field recordings captured from the landscape. We tracked down the mind behind Ben Powell for an email interview.
James Shearman
Londoner James Shearman has been one of the most active & present figures in the UK/ Euro wall noise scene for some years now- releasing walled noise/ static texturing under A Raja's Mesh banner as well as his own name, he runs the prolific & respected HNW Netlabel, and has been involved in the organization of wall/ noise shows in and around London. So it seemed high time to track James down for an interview- the below lengthy, but most interesting interview took place via email over the last month or so.
The Lux & Ivy Compilations Interview
Over the last few years Righteous- part of the Cherry Red family of labels- has released a series of highly consistent & well-rounded compilations under the Lux & Ivy banner. These CD collections focusing in on largely obscure 45’s from the ’50s & ’60s be it lo-fi rock ‘n’ roll, crude rockabilly, cheesy guitar pop, Beatnik spoken word/skits,gimmick led rockabilly, devilishly delinquent 50’s anthems, and all manner of novelty fare. For those not in the know Lux Interior & Poison Ivy where The Cramps -the cult US rockabilly/ garage punk/ Gothabilly band - and while the collection is not directly connected to the pair, the spirit of the compilations comes from their passion for collecting obscure 45. Behind the compilation is Dave Henderson- a music journalist who has written for British music magazines such as Mojo, Q, and Kerrang!- we tracked down Dave for an email interview to discuss this wonderful compilation series
Paige Davis, Michael Raso & Lisa Petrucci
As the interest and reassessment of sleazy celluloid from the past grow in leaps & bounds, so does the reissuing of both soft & hard-core porn on Blu Ray & DVD. One of the better-curated, nicely put together & consistent series of releases has been the Racy Reels series- this is a collaboration between Pop Cinema, and infamous exploitation reissue label Something Weird. So far the series has seen three release- and each has either brought together two-to-three films that are theme-related, or part of a series- so Vol 1 featured three obscure & bizarre examples of 70’s Sci-fi themed sexploitation. Vol 2 brought together two 70’s soft-core/sex comedies with women’s liberation/ equality theme, and most recently Vol 3 took in two late 60’s -to- early 70’s erotic dramas/ thrillers from the popular Danish/ Swedish I, a Woman series of soft-core films. We tracked down Paige Davis & Michael Raso from Pop Video, and Lisa Petrucci from Something Weird to discuss how the series came about, the releases thus far, and the series future.
The Residents
Many bands/projects in their later years ease back on the sonic gas- be it slow down, mellow-out, or water down their sound. But that’s certainly not the case for The Residents- now a few years off their 50th anniversary, the avant-pop/ art collective have just released their 47th album Metal, Meat, and Bone- which stands as one of their more bounding ‘n’ intense record- it sees the collective blending roughed-up & snarling blues, with theatrical sonic oddness ‘n’ unease. Homer Flynn- the projects key designer, manager, and handler kindly agreed to give M[m] an email interview- discussing the new album & more.
Jimmy McDonough
Andy Milligan stands as one of the most distinctive & creatively lo-fi directors to appear from the American grind-house circuit of the ’60s and ’70s. When you're watching a Milligan film- you most certainly know it- with it’s plots full bickering families, self-made often period costumes, awkward sex scenes, very crude/ bizarre effects, and moments of dizzying/ disorientating swirling camerawork. I first saw a Milligan film around ten or so years back- and became more & more fascinated by this true one-off. One of the things that helped to deepen my interest was The Ghastly One- a 2001 warts ‘n’ all biography of Milligan written by respected biographer and journalist Jimmy McDonough, who has also penned books on the likes of Russ Meyer, Neil Young, and Tammy Wynette. Out-of-print for a few years, The Ghastly One has just got a deluxe/ picture-packed reissue on Fab press, so I tracked down Jimmy for an email interview- talking about the new edition of the book, and of course Andy Milligan in general.
Perpetual Abjection & Unsignified Death Intervie
There has always been a close connection between the walled noise scene, and various themes/ obsessions- be it nihilism, giallo/ cult films, true crime, grim nature, etc. Sometimes the low-fi/ nihilistic artiness of the walled noise genre has been expressed through releases packaging, and one of the more recently label to focus in on the more arty presentation is Bangkok based Perpetual Abjection- the label started in 2017, and has so far put out eighteen releases- each of which features a distinctive, & at times lo-fi elaborately presentation. We tracked down the label's owner Polwach Beokhaimook- who kindly gave us an email interview discussing the label, and his own wall noise project Unsignified Death that creates an often crude & industrialized take on the genre.
William Fowler & Vic Pratt
Both William Fowler and Vic Pratt are seekers of strange, wonderful & bizarre Celluloid- in 2006 the pair started up the BFI Flipside imprint- this has seen both screenings of obscure TV and film fare, as well a series of DVD & Blu Ray releases of similar titles. Last year they got together to release their first joint publication The Bodies Beneath(on Strange Attractor Press) it saw the pair digging deep into the more bizarre, quirky, and strange side of British film & television. Both Will & Vic kindly took time out of their busy schedule to give us an email interview- discussing the Flipside imprint, The Bodies Beneath book, and more.
Melaine Dalibert
Over the last few years or so, French pianist Melaine Dalibert has put out a series of sparse, atmospheric & at times memorable piano-based albums- making him one of the more consistent & appealing artists to appear from the modern classical/ minimalism scenes in the last ten years. I’ve closely followed his career since around 2017, and now as he has five albums under his name, and is gaining the wider respect he deservers I thought it a fitting time to set up an interview with him.
Barry "Schwump" Schwam
Barry "Schwump" Schwam is a Californian based outsider musician/ DJ, who on & off since the 1960s has been creating his own brand of sonic oddness. He’s most known for his great bizarre single 1976 Aphids In Hall, which was put out by The Residents label Ralph Records, and the track also featured members of the eyeballed ones playing on it too. Recently Barry has completed his Magnus opus The Frog Opera- a rather splendid example of sonic oddness/ audio playfulness- the CD’s just shy of forty-minutes moves between warbling theatrical organ jaunt-ness & unhinged cartoon vocals, camp & soaring female operatics, jolly kids tunes slowly going wrong, weird vocoder jiving outs, & loads of frog sounds. I caught up for an email interview with Barry, who is sadly very ill with terminal cancer- and we discussed the beginnings of his career, moving onto his time on Ralph records, and the recent release of his Frog Opera album that appears on German label Psychofon Records.
Nico Mastorakis
Nico Mastorakis, is a veteran of the B-movie circuit- since the late 70’s he’s produced thirty films, written twenty-four, and directed thirty- taking in the likes of taboo-breaking nasty Island Of Death, which at one point was banned in most countries around the world, 1980’s slasher meets action blend The Zero Boys, and many others. In recent years labels like Arrow Video & Vinegar syndrome have reissued a growing list of his films- the most recent of these been his Greek island set moody thriller with slasher touches 1986 The Wind which has just been released by Arrow Video. We track down Nico for an email interview- discussing his beginnings in Greek TV, and his film work of the ’70s, 80’s, and 90’s.
Paul Dever/ Blood Eagle
Paul Dever is one of the longest-running & respected names in the Harsh Noise wall - he’s been active in the scene since 2005, with his most known project been Griz+zlor which ran between 2006 and 2012- and offered up dense & dark monolithic wall craft. His most recent/ active project is Blood Eagle- this stared in 2015, and has so far put out around seven release- the last of these been the double C90 set All Out War on respected Swedish noise label Ominous Recordings- it was another uncompromising set from Dever’s highlighting his skill for creating dense and atmospheric wall matter. We’ve already interviewed Paul twice on M[m]- once in 2010, and once in 2012- so it now felt like a prime time to re-interview this important figure in the worldwide wall noise scene once again- and the interview was contacted by email.
Bütcher
I don’t think you’d find any argument that the golden age for Thrash and Speed Metal was the 1980s, and whilst a host of great bands have followed very few of them have ever managed to capture the raw unadulterated power of the albums recorded during that period. As much as I like bands like Havok, Gamma Bomb, Vektor and Toxik Holocaust they have never quite managed to rival the likes Kreator, Slayer or Exodus at their pinnacle, Bütcher may well be the exception to that rule. With the release of their second album 666 Goats Carry My Chariot they have taken huge steps towards filling the shoes of those aforementioned bands, if we add Iron Maiden, Celtic Frost, Sodom, Destruction and Mercyful Fate to the list of influences you know exactly the sort of thing I’m talking about. The thing is Bütcher are not some tribute act, you can hear their influences, but they have their own sound. We here at Musique Machine were lucky enough to catch up with band leaders R Hellshrieker and KK Ripper to discuss their new album, the band’s history and their future plans.
The Rita,Black Leather Jesus, Vomir & JSH
In early March this year, there was somewhat of a classic line-up walled-noise/ Harsh noise tour taking place in the US for a week or so- the tours line-up was Canadain HNW/ harsh noise legend The Rita, US notorious noise collective Black Leather Jesus, French king of crude walled noise Vomir, and noise bound nastiness from Stockholm JSH….with some special guests along the way. Johan Strömvall Hammarstedt( of JSH, Rien, and Ominous Recordings) kindly agreed to chart this classy & important tour- and below is his tour diary with a good selection of pictures.
Horrible Reviews
For twelve years Dutchman Jeroen B ran the Horrible Reviews channel on youtube- over this time he reviewed all manner of extreme, notorious & cult film fare- he did it in a bright, playful, yet informed manner. The channel had an impressive following of 140K viewers, but in a recent cull of more edgy/ extreme fare, youtube decided in their wisdom to take his channel down with no notice- which was a great, great loss- as his show was certainly one of my favorites on youtube. Luckily he had backups- so slowly but surely he’s re-publishing back episodes on Vimeo. I caught up with Jeroen for an email interview- where discuss his passion for odd/ extreme film, the channel, and Horrible Reviews future.
Striations
One of the stand out noise releases of last year was Vietnamization by Oakland based Industrial/ Power Electronics project Striations. The release originally appeared back in 2018, but was reissued last year as a 2 CD that added in a whole disc of bonus material- the fascinating, engrossing and meaningful noise release blended elements of moody noise-scaping, harsh noise, and PE, with keen & cleverly placed weaves of news footage/samples based around the Vietnam war- all very much focusing on the how the American army both brutalized, maimed & destroyed both the landscape, the counties people, and their soldiers. I tracked down the man behind the project Mike Finklea for an email interview.
Spectrum Zine interview
Being a fan of experimental or extreme music, sound, or, film was certainly a lot more tricky /time-consuming proposition before the onset of the internet in the late 1990s, which changed pretty much everything - for better or worse. In those pre-net days, the only way to find out about such things was by picking up fanzines, smaller print underground magazines, or wait for the next catalog mail out of your favorite cult mail-order company. One of the last great and far-reaching publications of the last days of underground printed zines was Spectrum- it covered a huge amount of sonic ground under the banner of Post-industrial music- which takes in the likes of dark ambient, noise, neo-folk, martial and industrial music. The zine was all the work of Melbourne based Richard Stevenson- who turned his passion for post-industrial sounds into one of the important/ impactful zines of the scene. This year Cult publisher Headpress released a wonderful compendium of the zine- bringing together the five published issues, the unpublished 6th issue, and new interviews/ insights. We caught up with Richard for an email interview.
Best of 2019
2019 was another great year for all things experimental, odd, extreme, quirky & bizarre- and once again we at M[m] offering you up a selection of ‘best of list’ from writers that are both varied & wide in their genre coverage- taking music, sound & film.
Joli project & Lost Light label interview
One of the more harrowing and terminal bleak walled noise acts to appear in recent years is Joli. The project is from Spokane, Washington and is all the work of one Jason Wolpert. The focus/ theme of Joli is suicide, self-harm, and self-doubt. It’s been active since around 2013- putting out around thirty releases- taking in stand-alone tapes, split release, digital releases, a few single CDR releases, and compilation tracks. Jason also runs the largely walled noise label Lost Light Records, he started the label in 2015- and it’s so far put around fifty releases- taking in both known and lesser-known names in the walled noise scene. Jason kindly agreed to give us an interview discussing both Joli, and the label.
Molly Harvey
Molly Harvey will be known to fans of Avant pop collective The Residents as one of the key vocal collaborators with the project in recent years- been a big part of the Icky Flix tours, Demons Dance Alone album & tour, and other releases/tours. Molly kindly agreed to do an email interview with m[m]- discussing not just her work with the Residents, but her personal art & sonic collaborations- all making for hopefully one of the more rounder & balanced interview conducted with Ms Harvey thus far.
Museum Of Death
Here at M[m] we cover a fair bit of extreme fair- be it sonically, visually, or thematically. And one of the most used themes to shock has always been death-related matter- be it serial killers & their MO, dead body & autopsy photos, or the processing of the dead though morticians & funeral directors. One of the few places in the world where people can literally face death, it’s impact, and those who use it as an addiction is the Museums Of Death in the USA- at present, the museum has two locations- one in LA, and one in New Orleans. Early this year on a trip to LA I was lucky enough to visit the Museum- and I must say it was one of the highlights of my trip to the City. After coming back home I decided to contact the LA Museum manager Erek Michael for an email interview- below we discuss how he first came to work at the museum, key artifacts the museum holds such as John Wayne Gacy clown shoes & GG Allin's stage ware, and general Museum related chat.