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GAME is an artfully paced (for want of a better word) Thriller. The 2025 British film is set in the late 1990s and is (largely) focused on a crashed/ upside-down car in a seemingly isolated wooded area. Inside the car is a trapped, aging raver/ thief (Marc Bessant)- he’s first tormented by his situation, then by animals, and finally by a poacher- played by Jason Williamson, lead singer of the post-punk duo Sleaford Mods. Here we have a Ltd edition Blu-ray release of the film from Bristol-based Invada Records & Anti Worlds; it includes two commentary tracks & a few other things.
Parody, like anything else, has its regional variants. And like wine or chocolate, not every region’s soil will yield the best results. As someone who has made a home in multiple climates, the European version is the hardest of the parodic nuts to crack, especially Western EU. Why? Well, let’s just get this out of the way: it’s not very funny. Complicate this formula with the fact that the artists in question are Swiss, and that’s quite an uphill battle.
From the mid-1960s, The War Game is one of the most troubling, at times downright terrifying portrayals of a nuclear attack ever put to film. The mock docudrama blends newsreel-like recreations, on-the-ground intense-to-grim filming, with talking-head input, and quotes from civil defence manuals. The film was initially banned by the BBC for being too troubling for the public to see. Here from Severin is a deluxe reissue of the movie, featuring a dual UHD/ Blu Ray release- taking in five and a half hours of new extras. With a reprint of the 1967 paperback tied to the film, a postcard, and a recreation of the mock evacuation card from the film- all presented in a slipcase.
Danish artist øjeRum (Paw Grabowski) moves full form into his Støvfigur alter ego for its first and self-titled release, bringing a mix of minimalist electronica and ambient to 12k. Combining the Danish words for "dust" and "figure," the electrostatic phenomenon is an intriguing (and apt) description of Støvfigur's sound - one's periphery comes to life. Subtle and evocative, Støvfigur is like resting in your room, the record player picking up light static from the inner ring, and hearing your neighbor's IDM softly penetrating through your walls. Much like the støvfigur that results when residue and acoustics collide, the music is an ephemeral glimpse at something just out of reach, dancing at the periphery, begging for further investigation.
White Sun of the Desert is a Russian action/adventure film from 1970 directed by Vladimir Motyl (Gone with the Horses, Zvezda Plenitelnogo Schastya and Rasstanemsya – Poka Khoroshie). The film stars Anatoliy Kuznetsov (Vstrechi Na Rassvete and Polosa Vezeniya), Pavel Luspekayev (Isini Chamovidnen Mtidan, Mertvye Dushi and Ori Okeanis Saidumloeba), Spartak Mishulin (Master I Margarita, Verbovshchik and Dostoyanie Respubliki) and Kakhi Kavsadze (Midjachvuli, Tsar Ivan Groznyy and Tskhovreba Don Kikhotisa da Sancho Panchosi).
The work of Morton Feldman has always stood apart from that of other modern classical composers. He created drifting, ebbing-and-flowing, at times fluidly rhythmic works based around patterns and fleeting meldioes- feeling more akin to either wound-down uneasy-to-forlorn soundtracking, acoustic ambience, or spaced-out & decidedly moody sound crafting. His work is wholly distinctive and unique- meaning you either get it or you don’t. I sit very much in the former camp- with Feldman being my favourite of all classical composers, so when a release with his name appears I’m always keen to hear it. Trios is a six-CD box set bringing together three works for flute, piano, and percussion, taking in one relatively short piece, one ninety-minute piece, and one lasting four hours & forty minutes.
060398 casualties 101 is a twenty-three-minute trip into grim, cavernous, and loosely churning walled noise themed around a train accident where one hundred and one people lost their lives.
Here’s a new two-track album from Hana Haruna (aka Portland’s Ken Jamison). We’re presented with two half-an-hour slabs of dense & texturally detailed walled noise by one of the true masters of the form.
Scattered Identity severs up a forty-one-minute slice of sub-bass walling from this long-running Polish project. It’s a ‘wall’ that sucks you in from the off, keeping you fixed in its taut & tense grip throughout
Long Hard Road is a CD box set collecting together the work released by lesser-know/ under-appreciated British rock band Nightwing in the early/ mid 80’s. The five-disc set takes in four studio albums & one live album- all of which highlight the project's blending & blurring of heavy rock, proto-metal, prog, and later more American-styled AOR- always managing to balance great instremental chops with an ear for melody/ great song construction.
From the fine folks at Cherry Red’s Doctor Bird, here is another collection of tracks produced by legendary/ innovative reggae producer Lee’ Scratch’ Perry. Flashing Echo is the second collection focusing on the key year of 1973, and over two CD’s/ forty eight tracks, we get another sonic look into the mind of this key/ important producer during his prime- the 1970’s.
Time travel movies can often be quite wacky & wild affairs; here from the early 80’s is a Japanese picture that (largely) takes a sweeter, more laid-back, and languid take on the form.The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is, at its heart, a coming-of-age/ low key Romantic drama- it regards sixteen-year-old Kazuko, played by 80’s J-pop star Tomoyo Harada, who has an accident while tidying up the school lab, after which she can seemingly time travel. Here from Cult Epics is a Region A Blu-ray release of the film, taking in a new 4k scan, a commentary track, and a mix of new/ old extras.
Reflecting on past memories from his childhood, Stephen Holliger's Fives and Sixes slowly works together pieces of unreleased work to build this contemplative look back. Our memories change over time, imperfect snapshots of our lives, but this is even more apparent in those with dementia, and that is the core focus of Stephen's latest album. This blurring of time, space, and memory fuels Fixes and Sixes, its hazy somnambulism the aural depiction of one's shifting childhood memories
The seventh in Powerhouse/ Indicators series of Hammer boxsets looks at the lesser-known side of the legendary studio. The focus of the four-film set is comedy, with the box getting an amusing punny subtitle of Ships & Giggles. We move from a mix of bumbling comedy, sci-fi, and crime caper. Onto a WWII set on island service comedy, through to a lost in France comedy with Bob Monkhouse and Leslie Phillips. Finishing off with a naval comedy drama regarding a marriage. Each film gets an HD or 4k scan, with a good selection of extras- mixing of new & old things.
Aidan Baker's Adverse Camber is a cinematic soundscape with tension and brooding melancholy, where instruments are present but heavily processed. Underwater piano and guitar with a heavy, enveloping fuzz, and resonant, at times violently distorted E-bow drones in the climactic moments. It feels influenced by the style of psychedelic minimalist riffers like Seefeel or Earth (in their earlier distorted period), taken to its fully ambient next logical step.
Last Tango In Paris was one of the provocative, controversial, and talked-about films of the 1970’s. With its mix of troubling sexual content & off-kilter, at times meta drama commenting on death & formal relationships. All wrapped up in arty/ at times uneven plotting, taking in powerful/ unpredictable performances from its two leads. Its plot regards the sexual liaisons between two strangers, forty-five-year-old American hotelier Paul (Marlon Brando) and twenty-something French woman Jeanne (Maria Schneider). Here from 88 Films is a dual UHD/ Blu Ray release of the film. It features a 4k scan, a new commentary track, and a mix of new/ archive extras.
Released first in 1976 as an episode of the BBC series Play for Today, Nuts in May was the breakthrough film for English screenwriter/director Mike Leigh. It’s a dark comedy drama/tragicomedy about a city-dwelling middle-class husband and wife going camping in the countryside. The film blends cringe inducing/ awkward humour, glum travel logging, with plenty of pathos. It not only helped launch Leigh as a household name but also became generally influential to the likes of The Office, Ben Wheatley's Sight Seers & much more. Here from BFI is a recent Blu-ray release, taking in a new 4k scan and a decent enough selection of mainly archive extras.
From the early 2000s, Cradle Of Fear is an extremely gory and fairly sleazy SOV anthology film from the UK, trying to recapture the spirit of the likes of the films put out in the 70/early 80’s by Amicus and Tigon. It features Dani Filth (of Cradle of Filth), as our sinister-yet- largely silent bridging character. It’s certainly got a lot of impressive/ gruelling gore, but the surrounding acting/ production is decidedly mixed/ cheap in places, so you have to ready/ open to this. Here from Unearthed, those uncovers of extreme/ brutal film is a double region A Blu-ray of the film- the first disc features the film & extras, and on the second a selection of short films by the same director.
Matching the upheaval and frantic political climate of their city, Minneapolis death merchants Nothingness, churn forth devastating brutality that is as complex and beautiful as it is punishing. Their third full-length, Godslaughter, continues the band's discourse in dissonance and "digressive death," pushing their envelope further and building a following along the way. Wonderfully captured by Adam Tucker, Godslaughter is a great look at the inner workings of Nothingness, their ethos, power, and drive to capture their "digressive" brand of death metal.
The bing, at its most basic, is a big heap of something. The term belongs to a particular place, both etymologically and historically. In the Central Belt between Edinburgh and Glasgow, there are massive bings, composed of the detritus of a now-extinct (at least in this area) oil industry in which the energy resource was extracted through shale mining. Today, the landscape is populated by these dregs of yesteryear, which have since become indistinguishable from the surrounding topography, bearing a fresh covering of grass and earth, effectively camouflaging the industrial genesis of these beasts.
From the mighty fine folks at SRS Cinema, here’s another weird ‘n’ wacky slice of low-budget sharkploitation…and boy, this one goes there, in its all-out WTH-ness. We have a size-shifting, talking, at points walking shark who likes making it with the ladies, a demented female cult that follows said shark- with loads of blood, limb-munching, and some awkward humour- all captured in lo-fi, shot-on-video form
Hit The Pulse To Purge…is a CD anthology looking at the output of Portion Control between the years1983 & 1986. The South London industrial electronic/ EBM project is seen as being most influential, going on to inspire/ inform the likes of Front Line Assembly, Skinny Puppy, Orbital and Nine-Inch Nails.
Here’s a CD compilation bringing together three mid-to-late ’60s horror soundtracks by Elisabeth Luthyens-Britain’s first female feature film composer. The twenty-four-track collection brings together score cues ( along with atmospheric sound effects from the films) and a trailer for each film, with a total disc runtime of seventy five minutes.
First released in 2021 as a digital-only release, Ritual was the 11th album from Polish industrial/rhythmic noise project Wieloryb. Here’s a CD reissue of the album, which adds three bonus tracks to make a fifteen-track release.