Direct Action was the twenty-third album from British punk band turned experimental soundscapers, Alternative TV. The six-track album paired moody experimental rock elements with noise tones/ textures, with an atmospherically seared production. Here from Fourth Dimensions is a recent CD reissue of the  2023 album, adding a bonus track that melds anarchic spoken word with surreal soundscaping.

Theme started off in the late 90s, as a spin-off from UK noise rock collective Splintered, with a mind to do less rock-focused sound, and instead hone in on textures, drones, and abstract sounds. Meditations on Space, Volume One is the project's seventh album, and the first volume in a two-part set. It consists of one piece of music (lasting around 40 minutes) which is broken into seven parts. If I were to compare the album to anything, I’d say Michael Gira’s The Body Lover’s project. As it engagingly shifts from pared-back psycho ambience, to more detailed looping & droning material, onto denser and more dramatic work, all making for a rewardingly varied sonic trip. 

Early 90s Nottingham-based industrial metal pioneers Pitch Shifter entered the BBC's Maida Vale studios on two separate occasions in April 1991 and March 1993 to record sessions for legendary BBC DJ and general underground music expert John Peel. This set compiles both sessions on one disc, six tracks in total, three from each session. "Gritter", "Tendrill "and "Dry Riser Inlet" from the 1991 session and  "(A Higher Form of) Killing  Radio Phuque Edit", "Diable (Wayco Survival Mix)" and "Deconstruction (Reconstruction)" from the 1993 session.

Here we have the score for Symptoms- a slow-burning psychological thriller/ come horror film. Like the movie itself, the score shifts between the lush and pastoral, and discordant and disquieting  

Feasting On Craved Remains is a recent five track EP from Torsofuck-a organ gurgling death metal three piece from Finland. The project has been active on and off since the mid 90’s to present day- never comprising/ diluting their nasty/ lo-fi sound.

Dachra comes to Arrow Player with an impressive pedigree. The Tunisian horror was chosen as the closing film for International Critics' Week at the 2018 Venice International Film Festival and won the Scariest Film Award at The Overlook Film Festival the following year.

Transmission is a 2023 film focusing on a lost/ cursed movie & a missing horror director. It’s structured/ presented in a rather creative manner- as if someone is channel hopping late one night- blending true crime mockumentary, news reports, several films with the film, parody adverts, etc. Here from Jinga Films is a bare-bones region-free DVD of the film.

Up! was the twenty-second feature-length film from large-breast-obsessed Auteur Russ Meyer.  The late 1970s movie stands as one of the director's more scatterbrained, wacky, at times playful stream of consciousness-bound creations. The small lumber town based feature blends elements of soft-core sex comedy, murder mystery, and nazi parody/ send up- with lots of out in nature bonking and playful perverse narration/ Greek chorus from a nude Kitten Natividad- all topped with moments of violence and splatter. Here from Severin, as part of their series of reissues of the Meyers work, is a new release of the film, taking in a wonderfully new bold ‘n’ bright print, a new commentary track, and an archive interview.

Jack The Ripper is a late 1950s cinematic adaptation of the infamous Whitechapel Murders of 1888. The black and white film sits somewhere between whodunit, period drama, and hammy mystery, with some nice eerie to tense street-bound shots, and light touches of nudity and violence, with a bloody colour climax. Here from Severin is a double UHD/Blu-ray- taking in European and US versions of the film, both with a new 4k scan, a commentary track, and a few extras.

A Day At The Beach is an early 70s film regarding a manipulative, devious, at times charming alcoholic, taking a young girl, who is either his niece or daughter, to a rain-washed and seen better days Danish seaside town. The film mixes glum drama, character study, and addiction melodrama, with moments of dark humour, fearful tautness, and grim quirkiness. Here from Powerhouse-both in the UK and stateside- is a Blu-ray reissue of this little-known/ seen film, which features a screenplay penned by none other than Roman Polanski, who also produced the film. And it also features a brief cameo from Peter Sellers.

In an epic, genre crossing event, two of extreme metal's all time legends bring their experimental solo work to Cold Spring. Iggor Cavalera and Shane Embury (best known for Sepultura and Napalm death, respectively) unleash side-long pieces for this release, mixing brooding, dark ambient, industrial, noise, and all manners of uncomfortable sound in between. While no strangers to experimental music (Iggor's Petbrick and Shane's Dark Sky Burial, for example), the two use their own names for this release, giving their work a more personal feel. 

Here’s a recent four-track mini-album/ EP from Sebastian Tomb- the Berlin-based project, which takes a more moody-to-creative take on walled/ textured noise form.  Each track mixes experimental ambient elements with minimalistic/low-key wall craft.

Trinity of Wisdom is a new two-track album from this highly prolific/long-running Californian walled noise project. Both tracks roll in at the thirty-minute mark, and both are exercises in ball-busting/dense/ unforgiving HNW.

Deaf Center are the duo of Norwegians Erik Skodvin and Otto Totland, existing since the early 2000's. This new album, Reverie, is the first release in six years. The two-track release a live album, performed at the anniversary show for their label, Sonic Pieces- with each track hitting around the seventeen mintue mark.

Here’s two tracks of electronic noise from RDKPL, on Inner Demons Records; I’m reviewing this via a download code for Bandcamp, so there’s no packaging to consider, but I like the simple, diy, ‘bedroom’ packaging that I’ve seen on other Inner Demons releases. Both tracks are ten minutes in length, and both play with similar sounds.

Originally released in 1996, Hopelessness and Shame was the debut album from this Philadelphia instrumental trio. They have been classified as ‘doom jazz’, though I’d say you’d have to add taut rock/ metal to that description. Here from SRA Records- as either a CD or vinyl(either red or yellow varieties)- is a recent(ish) reissue of the album, which was recorded by Steve Albini, with a new remastering.