Here’s a CD box set bringing together the first four albums from Hersham, Surrey's Sham 69. They started off as a street punk/ Oi! band, before shifting into a more produced/ polished classic British rock sound- the albums here very much highlight this shift.

Continuity, Fragility, Resonance is a 2020-2021 piece for octet: string and saxophone quartets from  Swiss composer Jürg Frey. It’s a fifty-one-minute work, which compellingly moves itself through brooding pomp, moody saw ‘n’ simmer, and bitter-sweet rises/ hovers. 

Paino collects together three solo piano works by Slovak composer Adrián Demoè- all played with wonderful clarity and depth by  Czech pianist Miroslav Beinhauer.

Now here’s an extremely haunting, at times downright eerie trip into modern classical dark ambience, which really seems to seep deep into both your marrow and psyche. Solo I / Solo IV is just shy of fifty minute work, bringing together two flute/ low string solos and their playback.

Listening Time is longform piece focused on subtly ebbing & shifting drone currents. The forty-five-minute work moves between pressing swells, delicate microtonal transfers, and moments of felt simmer.

Cities Burn As We Dream Of A Return is a lament, something we get from listening as opposed to knowing anything about the author here. When we do know, the backdrop of senseless war and a city in flames is none other than Beirut, the former home of Ryan Haïdar, who has since relocated to Paris under the threat of said attacks.

Sorority House Massacre is a mid-80’s slasher. The film blends uneasy flashbacks/ dreams/ premonitions with camp-to-plain bad acting. As it progresses, the bloody, largely knife-bound kills increase, as does the fairly taut & suspenseful nighttime stalkings. It’s a picture that certainly plays up its slasher tropes and is far from original, but if, like me, you enjoy the genre’s predictability & it’s campness, you’ll be entertained by what’s on offer here. From 88 Films, as part of their Slasher Classic series, is a new release of the picture. It comes as a dual Blu-Ray and UHD release, taking in a new 4k scan, an extended UK cut of the film, three commentary tracks, and a good selection of new and archive extras.

Strongroom is a splendidly taut ‘n’ tense 1960’s UK thriller. It is based largely in a bank's strongroom- where two people are stuck inside, with the air rapidly depleting. The film wonderfully notches up the tension- keeping you on the edge of the seat, right until the end. Here from BFI taking a 2k scan, two new commentary tracks, and a good selection of archive extras- including another feature from the same director/ cast & crew.

Like a rift into a terror dimension come to life, Nibiru's Hypóstasis uses whatever means necessary to bring forth their dark, vile, industrial ritual. Their bleak and terrifying soundscapes will darken the brightest days with the six pieces on Hypóstasis securing their place in the blackened pantheon of extreme, ritual industrial. Oftentimes part of the ritual, and other times playing witness through scrying glass caked in distortion and reverb, the listener is taken on a journey through horror, pain, fear, and despair, but in the darkest and most wonderful ways.

Dark Dreams finds über-fan Nick Cato doing a deep dive into his favourite film of all time-  the grim and sleazy 1981 slasher Nightmare( aka Nightmare In A Damage Brian). The just under A4-sized full colour book is released by the UK’s Headpress.

Placebo (პლაცებო) is a two-track album from  Mtskheta, Georgia‘s Owners Of Knowledge, who create a distinctive blend of walled noise, dense ambience, and field recordings. 

From Turkey’s The Crude, here’s a just over twenty-minute example of walled noise focused on furry felines. The ‘wall’ is a rumble ‘n’ roll-based affair, which does offer up quite a comfortable and calming vibe.

Director Heidi Greensmith crafts a short and polished thriller from Nuala Ellwood’s 2017 dark psychological novel. But it’s a story that could have done with more than a meagre 82 minutes to hit home its themes of trauma and the sins of the past.

Steven Halpern is a Grammy-nominated American New Age musician. He released his first solo album in 1976 and has built an impressive catalogue of titles since then. He started his music career in New York, playing trumpet and guitar before moving to California during the late 60s, where he developed the idea that he would like to create music purely for the purpose of relaxation. He possesses the long-held belief that music can heal and classifies himself as a suburban sonic shaman. On the back cover of Music for Microdosing, his music is compared to “a tuning fork for the mind, body and soul” that will heighten the listener’s “receptivity to insights, inner guidance and creativity.”

Wan Pipel comes wrapped in a slipcase, with no booklet and a few extras on the disc; in that regard, it’s not any kind of deluxe edition, but the extras are interesting enough. The film, shot in Suriname, was released in 1976, and was the first Surinamese film after the country achieved independence from the Netherlands; in that regard, it’s historically important, and the themes of nationalism and patriotism, and the relationship between the two countries, are loudly present in Wan Pipel (One People).