A project that has been releasing works for twenty-three years, Craig Varian’s 400 Lonely Things (co-member Jonathan McCall passed away in 2020) should be a haunted household name when it comes to the “pagantronic” and “ghost ambient” genres of electronic music. 400 Lonely Things is self described “Rustic Ambient Psychedelia” and “Analogue Folk Dronescape,” an amalgam of decayed samples, ethereal electronics, and detourned field recordings that conjure up a visionary, eldritch place that exists at the crossroads of hauntology and folk horror. Varian creates a sonic cosmos that fuses past, present, and future sonorities, a cinematic effect that plunges the listener into an uncanny atmosphere. While 400 Lonely Things’ recordings are indeed “hypnotic,” the music is actually quite complex and evocative, a diffuse layering of sounds, ambiances, moods, and effects. 

She Thinks She The State Department is a wonderful, unbalancing, and disconcerting collaboration between Chicago’s PBK, and Massachusetts prime cassette tape-scaper Howard Stelzer. It’s a five-track CD album, which blends disorienting textural fumblings, stuck avant-jazz bayings, off-kilter droning’s, and a general feeling of disqueting-to-unhinged sound-scaping.

Wilt is an Illinois-based project that blurs the boundaries between dark ambience, uneasy field records, and low-key/ brooding noise texturing. The projects been active since the late 90’s, with over one hundred and twenty releases to date. Mold The Earth is a CD album release from 2024, taking ten tracks.

The Fourth State is a long-form, evolving drone work from Sweden’s Andreas Rönnquist. It runs at just over the fifty-two-minute mark and features some rewarding shifts/ sonic developments.

Vampire Zombies…from Space is a cult 2024 retro sci-fi/horror/comedy film from writer/ director Michael Stasko (Boys Vs. Girls, Things to Do and The Bird Men). The film stars Troma legend Lloyd Kaufman (The Toxic Avenger, Troma’s War and Class of Nuke ‘Em High), Judith O’Dea (Night of the Living Dead, The Pirate and October Moon), Jessica Antovski (The Unbelievable with Dan Ackroyd, The Dread and Dreamcrusher), Craig Gloster (Depraved Mind and The Eternal Present) and Oliver Georgiou (Helltown, Cam_Girlfriend and The Haunted Museum).

Here’s a recent release from this highly prolific Tampa, Florida based walled noise project. The single thirty-five-minute track has a decidedly unsettling looping quality about it, which really does burn deep into ones head/ psyche.

The Eyes Of Ages is a twenty-minute track, which merges thick droning & rattling wall noise, with an eerier/ unsettling undercarriage of ambience/ woozy pitch shift.  This is a NYC based project that’s been active since the late 2010’s

Only Pain Remains True is a thirty-minute slice of crudely caustic 'n' jaggedly jarring walled noise nastiness from this new anonymous project.  

With a title like Crash And Burn, you might be expecting a road-based action film- featuring some form of vehicle in chases ‘n’ chaos.  But in reality, it’s an early 90’s sci-fi film, finding a group of characters stuck inside an industrial facility/ TV station, where a deadly synthetic human/android is hiding out.  The film's most notable cast member is Bill Mosely( The Texas  Chainsaw Massacre Part 2, The Devil's Rejects). Here from Full Moon Features, as either a Blu-Ray or DVD, the release is a reissue of the film. I’m reviewing the former, which takes in a new director/ actor commentary track and a few other extras.

From the early 1980’s, Visitors from the Arkana Galaxy is a truly wacked-out/tonally shifting mix of sci-fi, fantasy, skewed sitcom, and demented creature feature. The joint Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and Croatia production regards a geeky/ bearded amateur author who seemingly brings to life/ earth his alien creations. Here from Deaf Crocodile Films is the region A Blu-ray release, taking in a new scan, a new commentary track, a new essay, and a selection of shorts from the director.

Nothing makes one feel the warm summer sun and breeze from the top deck quite like Yacht Rock - the audio equivalent of a cold wine cooler, warm, illicit substance tingles, and grooving with your shades on. While this micro-genre is primarily focused on the California sound or West Coast (USA) in general, never put it past the Germans and Austrians to focus in on lush grooves and make them their own. Under and Above the Clouds focuses on the Yacht Rock released in the two countries from '79-'91. Cold war but warm tunes, this compilation looks at the extremely fertile rock scene at that time, with its lens to the funky, sunny vibes we now call Yacht Rock.

Long Bright Summer pairs up English avant-garde saxophonist Evan Parker with French double bassist Joëlle Léandre, for a eight track improv collab. The release largely flirts between the taut and the fiery.

First appearing in the mid 70’s, Ja-Gan is a mellow & tuneful collection of instrumental dub reggae.  The twelve-track album blends upfront melodica (a blowable electronic instrument that sounds akin to accordion or harmonica), with organ, piano, guitar, & percussion. Here, from Doctor Bird is an expanded CD reissue of the album, taking in eight bonus tracks, and a glossy sixteen page booklet- featuring a six page write-up, single labels, studio logs, and pictures.

Libido is a mid 60’s Are-they-mad-or-not thriller, which blends in elements of psycho-sexual unease, gothic moodiness, and black-gloved Giallo. It regards a young man returning to his childhood seaside mansion home, where his father tied up & murdered a woman, before seemingly committing suicide. The film features a small, well-picked cast,  a great sense of uncertainty, mystery & unease, with a few neat twists. Here from Radiance is a new Blu-ray release of the film, featuring a crystal clear 2k monochrome print, a new commentary track, and a few new interviews

Night of the Juggler oozes the ‘Fear City’ era of 1970s New York, and being released in June 1980, it may be a significant final late entry in the neo-noir crime thriller subgenre that also brought us The French Connection (1971) and Death Wish (1974). Not, however, that many in the UK will know it as such. As the disc’s informative commentary from film historians Kim Newman and Sean Hogan notes, it was one of the first major studio films to receive a straight-to-video release in 1982, and for many years, it was only available on hazy VHS.

Delayed gratification; or, maybe no real gratification whatsoever? Strange and untimely qualities today, but with a rare acumen for presence, Periode (Andreas Reihse & Thomas Winkler), are just fine with the here and now on their new work of measured gesture and restraint, Grapes of Nothingness. Don’t let the title fool you. 

Japanese death metal band Invictus debuted in 2020 with an album called The Catacombs of Fear. This is their second album, several years later, titled Nocturnal Visions.

Dead-Wall Reveries brings together three modern chamber works from Canadian composer Eldritch Priest. Each runs between twenty and twenty-five minutes- all three have a decidedly compelling air, which moves between woozy angularity and sparse disquiet.

Je Laisse à La Nuit Son Poids D’ombre is a fifty-two-minute modern ensemble for ten players. It slowly shifts from hauntingly beautiful to discordant, dark, and at times, primal unease. The whole thing feels like a wonderfully muddying/darkening of the sonic waters.

From the late swinging sixties, The Assassination Bureau is Edwardian-set action-adventure/ dark comedy, with a star-studded cast- taking in the likes of Oliver Reed, Telly Savalas, and  Diana Rigg. It’s a decidedly Euro-trotting affair with an entertaining mix of witty banter, action, thrills, sword fighting, explosions, and more than enough camp to float a boat. Here from Arrow Video UK is a Blu-ray release of the film, taking in an HD print, and a few new extras.

Here we have a digital/  split EP bringing together two walls. One is decidedly pop/grit-bound from the UK’s  Spent Stiletto,  and the other thicker/ cruder buffeting weather-bound affair from USA’s No Fun Harsh Noise Wall. Each wall hits dead on the ten-minute mark.

With only a handful of releases spread over their twenty plus year career, Peru's Evil Damn treat us with a new mini LP from Hells Headbangers, Eons of Horror. Five tracks of classic, old school death metal, Eons mixes far-reaching and catchy death with angry, throaty vocals and propulsive drumming, capturing that old school vibe and aggression. Their first new material since their 2021 full length debut, Necronomicon, Evil Damn continue with the Lovecrafian/occult themes that pervade not only the runtime of the MLP, but are extra present in the ripping, ritualistic cover art.

Here we have a wall noise split, which is apparently themed around Orthodox Schema monk outfits. Each project serves up around fifteen minutes of crudely droning ‘n’ choppy wall matter. Featured here are Oregon’s Pink Wool, who are fairly new. And Poland’s Sado  Ritual, who have been active since 2019, releasing two hundred plus releases.

Glimmers of Hope is a recent mini-album from the Polish wall noise project Olion. Each of the two tracks featured slides in at dead on the fifteen-minute mark- both are fairly bass-focused affairs, with crackle-bound toppings.

How To Have Fun is the second release from Lea  Cummings( Kylie Minoise, Official Music Team, etc), lo-fi/ outsider folk project King Futile.  It takes in another eight tracks, and really, it sees him pushing even further the tongue-in-cheek/ glum/ sarcastic lyrical edge.

Devil Times Five is an early 70’s mix of killer kid thriller and slasher. It starts fairly campy/ soapy, before slowly but surely getting more mean-spirited/bleak, before diving into a truly nihilistic resolve. It features a decent selection of both victims and killers,  a snowy setting, and one or two fairly impressive low-fi gore effects. Here from 88 Films, as part of their Slasher Classic Collection, is a Blu-ray release of the film. It takes in both new and archive extras, including a brand new commentary track from slasher-loving podcast  The Hysteria Continues.

Well, just as I hadn’t properly heard Sun Ra before reviewing Sun Ra, I’m probably one of the few people who listen to power electronics who’ve never concentratedly listened to Sutcliffe Jugend, Slaves No More being the project that Kevin Tomkins and Paul Taylor initiated after they ended the legendary Sutcliffe Jugend. So I come to this with fresh ears, and there won’t be any comparison of the two projects, for better or worse. House Of Dolls is a two disc album, released by 4iB Records, and packaged in a card wallet covered in images and collages that clearly connect with power electronics aesthetics formally, but are slightly more cryptic and obscure than your usual black and white xerox affair. There are ten tracks, the longest being nearly half an hour long and the shortest nearly nine minutes in length. Each are titled ‘Scene I’, ‘Scene II’, and so forth.

Back in 2000, Martyn Ware (Heaven 17, B.E.F. and The Human League) and Vince Clarke (Depeche Mode, Yazoo and Erasure) formed Illustrious Company. Their MO (to paraphrase their own words) was to create new types of spatialised sound compositions using three-dimensional surround-sound systems. Collaborating with a host of digital and fine artists, world heritage sites, museums, exhibitions, live events, dance, theatre, technology, developers, researchers and educators. Up to now, they have created more than sixty sound projects that have been played, exhibited and heard across the world. It’s Always Ourselves We Find in the Sea is one such project.

Here from the fine folks at Cherry Red’s Doctor Bird is another collection of tracks produced by legendary/ innovative reggae producer Lee’ Scratch’ Perry. Black Man’s Time- The Jamaican Upsetter Singles 1972- Chapter 1 is a two-CD set, and as it’s sub-title suggests, all the tracks date from the year 1972.  The release takes in forty-nine tracks, and as we’ve come to expect from these Doctor Bird compilations, we get a good/ varied selection of material, with some true gems.

Bøyning, Brytning ( Bending, Breaking) is a very fitting title for this new album from  Norwegian guitarist Ivar Grydeland. As the tracks often feel as if they are being steadily pushed, pulled, and at times twisted out into unpredictable/alien shapes.

Percolation is the third solo album from Norwegian pianist/ composer Christian Wallumrød. In the late 90’s, he started off squarely in the Jazz genre, but as this ten-track release illustrates, his sound has become much more genre mixed now, with some of the material going down some fairly surprising/ quirky sonic paths.

Recorded in a single take and spread over 4 parts, Respawning as a Pearl is a breathtaking work of sustain, concentration, and tension, expertly woven together by Androctonyx (aka Lucas Gendre). There is continuity above all else, achieved by an organ–like drone that runs throughout, but the rest is pure minimalism. Washes of glitchy filters enter like comets passing, lifting the electronic composition while never distracting from its telos

Private Blue is an early 2020  picture that sends up both 80’s/ early 90's cop films and neo noir, for an entertaining, at times wonderfully camp ride, with a great retro score. It’s a SOV affair, though it technically sits at the more competent end of the genre. Here from SRS Cinema, those resurrectors of low-budget cult fare/ SOV, is a DVD release of the film, taking in a director's commentary track, and a few other things.

Here’s a 2024 documentary looking at the life of  Harley Flanagan, who helped define the New York Hardcore punk sound and founded key crossover band Cro-Mags. Now in his late 50s, he’s lived a hell of a life- moving from being left to fend for himself in childhood, to being a drummer in a popular punk band at the age of eleven, where at times he was used & abused. Before jumping into an adulthood full of anger and addiction, which later shifted into faith and focus. Here from Lightyear Entertainment is a dual Blu-ray/ DVD   release of the film, taking in seventy minutes of extras.

Director Matt McClung, known for Gentleman's Fury (2017), brings us Inhabitants, a 2025 supernatural horror that attempts to blend psychological thriller and religious horror elements. Starring Anna Jacoby-Heron (Stranger Things) as Olivia and Josh Andres Rivera (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes) as Francis, with Kevin Nealon (Happy Gilmore 2) as Denny and Ana Ortiz (Ugly Betty) as Lillian, the film promises much but falls flat.

Fantomas Returns! is a Blu Ray boxset bringing together the three 1960’s French adventure comedies featuring Fantomas, a blue masked supervillain who wants to take over the world. The films draw from a huge range of influences, from The Pink Panther and James Bond to Silver Age superheroes and Dr Mabuse. Each is a lot of fun, with some great moments of suspense, comedy, action, gadgets, and camp. This set is from Eureka Entertainment- each picture gets an HD scan, new commentary tracks, with featurettes and a sixty-page inlay booklet.

Despite the years old claims that physical media is dead, not only are older albums being re-released physically, but they're hitting fans on even older formats. Pita's Get Out is like Benjamin Button, originally released in 1999, getting a 12-track CD edition in 2008 (also from eMego), and now getting all of these 12 tracks released on vinyl for the first time (with an added live track to sweeten the deal). Widely regarded as an important work that moved experimental electronics in a new direction, Pita (Peter Rehberg) takes noisy, sparse electronics and melds them with melodies, adding new dimension to the pieces, and showing that noise can be more inclusive and musical than the aberrant onslaught that got many fans into the genre years prior.

The Knife is a quietly devastating procedural and psychological drama set entirely inside or around a house on one terrible night. Director and co-writer Nnamdi Asomugha doesn’t hold back with this taut tale that turns a family’s life upside-down in an instant, and has a lot to say about the state of the nation. Intense and thought-provoking, it’s a brilliantly filmed, unsettling watch.

Androctonyx's Respawning as a Pearl is a work of space ambient or drone, created with layers of synthesizer, not unlike Steve Roach's Immersion series, or Mathias Grassow's longform drone works. It is divided into four tracks, 12-20 minutes each, but is actually a continuous play, with no breaks between parts.

Veiled Erosion is the debut album from Anqi Liu- a composer, interdisciplinary/multimedia artist, photographer and filmmaker.  The CD takes in five pieces from the late 2010’s and early 2020s, with each being highly unpredictable- sitting somewhere between the composed and improvised. 

Here’s a CD bringing together two around thirty-minute pieces from Israeli-American modern classical composer Chaya Czernowin, both of which possess a rewardingly woozy/ unbalancing quality. They utilise the likes of an ensemble, double bass recordings, an orchestra, and amplified voices.

Hells Bells is a 2020 screwball horror comedy written, directed and starring Jim O’Rear (Torture Room, Nightblade and Scream Farm) and Scott Tepperman (Nightblade and the Cruel Summer movies). Starring alongside them we have Marc Price (Trick or Treat, Killer Tomatoes Eat France! and Little Devils: The Birth), Rebecca Erb (Kill Dolly Kill, Idle Girl and Death Care), Paul Von Scott (Cruel Summer, The Uncivil War: American Divided and Strange Love) and Jimmy Maguire (Unbillievable, The Mother God and Frenzy Moon).

Young Blondes, Stalked and Murdered is a 2024 film that blends elements of character study, slasher/serial killer thriller, and trying to make it in Hollywood satire. It focuses on Stacy- a young strawberry blond, who has recently set down in LA to make it as an actress, as a gloved/ masked killer is taking out aspiring blond actresses. The film has a decidedly darting/ fragment/ sleekly arty structure, which tonally darts all over the place- shifting from unease/ fearful, onto awkwardly vapid, to darkly funny. Here, from the recently resurrected Anchor Bay, is a Blu-ray release of the film.

During the late 1980s, cult director Lamberto Bava agreed to film a four-part anthology series for Italian TV under the banner of High Tension. But after the executives saw the completed features’ extreme themes, graphic violence, and nudity, their broadcast was blocked for nearly a decade, going on to exist as grey market bootlegs for many years. From Severin, here is a four Blu-ray/ CD boxset- presenting classy 2k scans of all four films, with a host of new extras.

Zu are an avant-garde metal trio formed in Rome, Italy, who have been releasing music since 1999. Ferrum Sidereum is their third full-length release for House of Mythology Records and their 14th in total. The band’s current lineup consists of Luca T. Mai on baritone sax, keyboards, synthesiser, and organ, Paolo Mongardi on drums and acoustic and synthetic percussion and Massimo Pupillo on bass, 12-string guitar, synthesisers, and keyboards.

Pushing the death metal envelope, Finnish trio Ligation unleash their brand of 'death mental' with their debut album, After Gods. Working within the confines of that cold, dark, Scandinavian sound, Ligation further their agenda by integrating uncommon, but highly welcome, elements like harsh noise and saxophones. Integrating the three tracks from their two prior split EPs, After Gods showcases the band in all their mighty glory, tearing new holes in the death metal fabric, allowing other dimensions to saunter in and wrap their tendrils on an unsuspecting audience. 

In the field of music, you don't have to look very far to find meditations of all kinds; David Shea's Meditations is something else. Taking its cues from the actual IRL act of meditating, grounded in Buddhism and the Heart Sutra in particular, the eight pieces that make up this album are born out of meditating, sometimes even musically, and are designed to accompany or engender that process. I guess that means listening and being attentive to the other performers, like those who round out the album's lengthy roster and their instruments--vibraphones, guitars, ebows, and yes, singing bowls, among others. 

For 10 Musicians is a modern ensemble suite, at its most stark and spare. The four-track work is built around spaced piano notation, with which the wind and string instruments are sometimes connected. It creates a work that is more about mood/ presence, and less about melody/ structure- though those do sometimes occur.

Les Signes Passagers brings together seven compositions written especially for the fortepiano- an early version of the modern piano, named for its ability to play both softly (piano) and loudly (forte). The works here are penned by Swiss composer Jürg Frey, and played by pianist Keiko Shichijo- who is a specialist in the instrument. The resulting album stands as one of the more pared-back/ sparse/ fragile keyboard-based recordings I’ve ever heard.

The Recordings is a four-disc set bringing together all of the 70s output from Gracious!, a Surrey prog rock band, who had an adventurous/ dramatic sound that blended blues, rock, classical, symphonic, and beyond. The set brings together three CDs and a DVD, which features the band's short set at the 1970s Isle of Wight Festival

The Maiden is a 2022 drama written and directed by Canadian Graham Foy (Paradise Falls, Mouseland and August 22, This Year) and shot on 16mm film. The Maiden is his debut feature-length film.  The cast is made up of mainly first-timers, with no previous experience in cinema. Jackson Sluiter plays Kyle, Marcel T. Jimenez plays Colton, Hayley Ness is Whitney, Kaleb Blough is Tucker Siena Yee is June, and Charlotte Clarke plays Charlotte.