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Frankenstein’s Daughter is a 1958 cult classic from Hawaiian born director Richard E Cunha (She Demons, Girl in Room 13, Missile to the Moon), starring the near-legendary cult film star John Ashley (How to Stuff A Wild Bikini, Mad Doctor of Blood Island, The Twilight People), who took on the role of protagonist in a clutch of much loved Filipino horror movies during the 1970s working with director Eddie Romero. Frankenstein’s Daughter is an earlier entry in Ashley’s career and remains a much-loved classic of the low budget sci-fi horror genre that was popular in the late 1950s.
The second and latest release from the collaborative project Soft Generator (Audiobulb’s UK-based curator David Newman and US-based composer Erik Schoster), is a continuously-evolving edifice divided into four tracks, each carrying a linguistic segment of the work’s title, Ack Now Ledge.
Ehrenfeld "Old Portraits Carved in Blood" is the first release from Chilean project Grollheim, who are part of the black metal/ dungeon synth collective the Valdivian Black Circle. The release is an extremely ltd tape/ digital download taking in seven examples of chillingly wonky dungeon synth fare- which from time to time adds in grimly ghoulish & bleakly unsettling vocal/ textured noise elements.
From April last year here’s a walled split bringing together work from French-based waller Dosis Letalis and Poland’s Vilgoć. It comes as either a C50(which I’m reviewing) or a digital download- featuring two one-take tracks from Dosis Letalis, and one side long track from Vilgoć.
Virtue Wall: Faith is the second in the series of walled noise releases from noise / grim drone maker Flanders based noisemaker Damien De Coene, that are based around the capital Virtues- which were set by Pope Gregory I in AD 590.
This Is Not A Message is just shy of an hour-long example of the walled noise from Chicago, Illinois based Inanition- whom has been active in the scene for the last eleven or so years, releasing a steady/ even flow of material.
Moody downtempo electronic project Agate Rollings is a duo originating from Italy. Their music has a somber energy, comprised of gently murmuring beatless melodic synth loops and keys, with a sweet tinge of strings. Meantime / Elsewhere is the duos fourth full length album, which appears on Germanys Midira Records, as either a cassette or digital download.
B.B. Blunder stand as one of the lesser-known and short-lived British rock bands of the 1970’s. They released just one album, 1971’s Workers’ Playtime- a ten-track affair that had a decidedly varied flow going from horn edged blues rock-outs. Onto atmospheric prog instrumentals, playful-if-lose mixes of sound effects & moody playing, rather shambolic takes on 70’s rock, and building singer-songwriter fare. Here from Esoteric Records, Cherry Red’s Rock/ prog focused sub-label is a double CD reissue of the album- taking in the original album/ bonus tracks, and a disc worth of outtakes & demos.
From the mid-’80s To Sleep So As To Dream is a charming, at times magically enchanting blend of gumshoe detective mystery, tribute to the silent era, and fantasy. The film is scoped in black and white- and shifts between noirish moodiness and dreamy lushness, with the whole thing being an original blend of silent and subtle talky. Here from Arrow Video, both in the UK & US, is a Blu Ray release of the film- taking in a new commentary track from Japanese film experts Tom Mes and Jasper Sharp, and a selection of new & archive extras.
After ten demos, and a few compilations/ ltd boxsets Sarcophagical Lament of the Past is the first official album from Chilean Old Castles- who brew up a sinisterly raw, discordantly baying and often wonkily gloomy take on the blacked metal form.
Italian born composer Clara Iannotta embodies her take on the modern classical form with a real feeling of sonic physicality – which can either be uneasily seared, jarringly bombastic, twistingly alien, or unsettlingly ambient. Moult is a CD that brings together four works from the composer, which utilizers chamber and string orchestration, piano, percussion, amplified ensemble, objects and sine waves- all to create a decidedly unpredictable, unbalancing and often jarring journey into modern composition.
Parametrical Counterpart is an eight-track CD release bringing together the often violent, manic and darting modern classical compositions of Mexican born American composer José-Luis Hurtado. The works here are for solo piano, mixed ensembles, and blends of piano & fixed media.
Here we're revisiting the blessed fields of minimalism once again, and this time it’s with Just None of Those Things from The International Nothing, a psycho-acoustic clarinet duo. The Berlin-based project brings together Michael Thieke and Kai Fagaschinski. Their work is released by the Japanese label Ftarri, spanning, so far, with seven albums released to date, with this being their latest.
Australian native Jason Sweeney is the driving force behind Panoptique Electrical, and his latest release, Picturesque Ruins, is nothing if not a study in well-tempered dissolution and destruction – of harmony, of classical instrumentation, and of the time that moves nonlinearly as we listen.
Danish dark sound artist Ana Fosca has come to the Helen Scarsdale Agency for her latest swath of grim electronics, Poised at the Edge of Structure. Dark, dreary, noisy, and evocative, the dozen pieces presented offer a harrowing glimpse at the sound of despair, hopelessness, and grief. While Fosca is fond of the phrase, "mathematics of grief," Structure plays more like the "stewing of grief," allowing all the sonic flavors to mingle and coalesce into a very satisfying whole. While grief is a hard emotion to process and get through, the resulting art that comes from it can help to inspire others in many different ways.
Orchestramaxparrish is the one-man ambient guitar improv project from the mind of New York resident Mike Fazio, guitarist with Life with the Lions, Gods of Electricity and Chili Faction. Mike has also recorded several solo projects under a variety of names including, ÆRA, A Guide for Reason, orchestramaxfieldparrish, and the Sonic Arts Society. He is also the founder of the record label Faith Strange through which he has released much of his music.
From the mid-1970 Mad Dog Morgan is an Australian western edged with brutal grittiness, dark humour, and moments of fly buzzing bloodiness. It features Dennis Hopper, as the title character- gold prospector turned rather bumbling and boozy highwayman- who the locals love, and the authorities want dead or alive. Here from Powerhouse is a new region free release of this slice of gritty and brutal Ozploitation classic- with the disc taking in two cuts of the film, two commentary tracks, a few other on-disc extras, and an eighty-page book.
From the early 1970’s Bartleby is a distinctive, at points puzzlingly glum example of British cinema- part lightly absurd drama, part tragic comedy, and part office work satire. The film focuses on the title character- an awkward and quiet twenty-something man who starts working as a clerk at a firm; then suddenly for a seemingly unknown reason starts politely refusing to do his job. Here from Powerhouse films is a region free Blu Ray release of the film- featuring a new 4k scan of the picture, directors’ interview and a few other things.
Released in October of last year The Circumference of Reason is a new six-track release from this San Francisco Avant jazz collective. The tracks move from densely weaved joint horn attacks, onto more stripped moody and angular fare, through to building and unfurling honk scapes.
Giving your band a bold name is a gesture that needs to be backed up by your music - as a vast history of execrable metal and punk bands with striking names will testify to. Thus ‘Attitude!’ requires a band with attitude, and whilst there is an attitude on display here it fails to muster up the force to justify the exclamation mark.
Appearing in the year 1998 Wormwood: Curious Stories From The Bible was the twenty-third studio album from the mysterious and darkly playful US Avant collective The Residents. As its sub-title suggested it was a concept album that focused on disturbing, dark, brutal tales from the holy book- with a primal focus on the Old Testament. The resulting twenty track album was a prime example of the projects sonic/ genre yin ‘n’ yang- with unsettling discordancy/ wonkiness, sitting next to the grand, playful, and tuneful. With the album shifting through & blurring genres such as Broadway musical, avant rock opera, world music, late 90’s electronica, cinematic music, and even haphazard pop. Here as part of Cherry Reds/ MVD Audios/ New Ralph ‘pREServered’ series is a new & epic nine CD boxset, which charts the development of the album, and what it went onto be in a live setting.
Here’s a wall noise split featuring four slices of tickly droning ‘n’ weightily numbing HNW. The split brings together Worship, who are decidedly mysterious- with no hint of where in the world they are from, and Kansas City, Missouri based GODnoiseGOD.
Back in 2004, Nigel Ayers (Nocturnal Emissions) and Phillip B. Klingler (PBK), got together to collaborate- during this session, they created two hours’ worth of material. Some of it appeared on various releases over the next few years, but a portion was left aside. Mid 2021 rolled on, and Klingler decidedly to unearth this remaining portion and thus, Erosion of The Monolith was born- which is a contemporary example of exquisitely peculiar ambience. Both artists have been on my ‘watch-list’ for quite some time, so another collaboration between them is great news.
From the late 80s Retribution is one of the more deranged, at points quirky takes on the possession/ revenge genre. This film tells of a mild-mannered artist been possessed by the spirit of a gun downed gangster- it features a blend of day glow ghoulishness, inventive kills, and demonic wackness. Here from Severn is a truly definitive edition of this less known slice of 1980’s horror- with the three-disc set taking in a commentary track, loads of other extras, CD of the soundtrack, and a glossy thick inlay booklet.