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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.
Obscene Publication sees the welcome return of UK waller HOMExINVASION, who I don’t think I’ve heard anything from for in a few years. This is a single track release, featuring a stark-yet-manic example of the walled noise form.
Phallic Devotion presents us with a meatily jittering ‘n’ statically scraping example of the walled noise form from this Nashville based project. The release is a digital EP, which appears on Portland’s Basement Corner Emission.
A Time for Dying is a 1969 western written and directed by Budd Boetticher (writer of the Clint Eastwood vehicle Two Mules for Sister Sara, and director of Bullfighter and the Lady and The Magnificent Matador the second of which starred Hollywood legends Maureen O’Hara and Anthony Quinn). The film stars Anne Randall (Westworld, The Night Strangler and Stacey) the relatively little known, Richard Lapp (who appeared mostly in minor TV roles in series like Bonanza and Gunsmoke but did turn up alongside Lee Van Cleef and Warren Oates in Barquero), Robert Random (Tick, Tick, Tick, Village of the Giants and Then Came Bronson), Beatrice kay (Underworld USA, Diamond Horseshoe and most interestingly the excellent Cool Air episode of The Night Gallery from 1971) and of course the film features the final performance of acting legend, Audie Murphy (Destry, The Quiet American and To Hell and Back, the story of his own wartime career as a soldier in the US armed forces, where he played himself).
From Arrow Video (both in the UK and US) Lies And Deceit is a Blu Ray box set, featuring five films by prolific and respected French director Claude Chabrol. The films here date from the 80s and 90s- with the focus going small-town murder mysteries, more spiky period drama, addiction drama, and a mix of mystery thriller/ romantic drama. Each disc features a new commentary track and a good selection of new & archive extras.
Seven years since their first release, German/Polish extreme metallers Chthonic Cult have risen from their dormant state to unleash Become Seekers for Death on a different, far more grim world. Shifting their focus to straight-up death metal, the group blasts forth with eight furious tracks to make the world well aware of their return to the scene. Sharp, tight, and lean, this album packs a hefty punch without a lot of extra frills, and its restraint helps to amplify the brutality.
Originally appearing in the early 80s Blood On The Cats is seen as one the definitive/ important complications of the psychobilly scene, with all the main names covered. Here from Cherry Red Records is an expanded two-disc reissue of the album- with over the two CDs a whopping fifty-six tracks featured.
Blank Generation is free-flowing and lo-fi arty punk/ post-punk drama set in & around the notorious CBGB's club in Manhattan NYC. The film features Richard Hell and his band the Voidoids, with ( a brief) appearance from Andy Warhol. Here from Dark Force Entertainment is a region free blu Ray release.
From BGO records here’s a double-disc CD set bringing together four late 70’s/ early 80’s albums from US blues singer Bobby Bland. The focus of all four of these albums is much more on the funk/ disco/ soul side of things, with Bland’s rich-yet- grittily cracked voice working very nicely with it this context/setting.
Prolific French experimental musician Franck Vigroux has released many recordings, dating back to the early 2000s, many of which were created using a guitar. His new album, Atotal, is a departure from this, an experiment in composition using analog electronic hardware.
Pleasurehead is a just shy of twenty-minute example of searing ‘n’ rushing walled noise from this Ohio project. The theme here is shooting up heroin, and the ‘wall’ has a bass purring meets static feasting quality to it.
The Chase, released here under its French title L'évadée, is a mid 40’s noir with a fairly interesting twist in its tail. The film charts a good/ honest guy getting a job driving for an unpleasant & unpredictable gangster- whose wife asks him for help. It features a good selection of actors, involving at times fairly tense plot, and ahead of its time twist. Here from Artus Films is a DVD release of the film, featuring a French subtitled print of the American film- these can be turned off.
Released in the year 1950 and written by respected US Sci-fi novelist Ray Bradbury The Martian Chronicles, is seen as a classic example of post-apocalyptic/dystopian fiction. Oxia Chaos is this sonic collectives attempt to soundtrack said book, and it’s their second album
Deeply ritualistic ambient, Lapis Sacrificialis is the latest offering from Russian outfit Corona Barathri. Composed of four rituals, this dark collection was recorded between 2018-2020 and is dedicated to the memory of fallen band member, Andrey Kein. Engaging and cinematic, these rituals are more like short stage performances and are best visualized on a stage vs in a dungeon.
How Lonely Sits The City? is new long form work from Stockholm based improviser/composer Magnus Granberg. It’s a haunting, at the same time moodily taut example of modern composition for string, wind, keys, percussion, and objects- with the nearing hour work creating a spellbindingly eerier feel of shadowy unease fed through with moments spiritly disquiet.
Sapindales brings together four Clarinet pieces from Manchester-born composer Martin Iddon. Each of the featured works celebrates the instruments more unbalancing to grimly moody tendencies, with each managing to create its own distinct air/ feel. The release appears as a CD on Another Timbre, who of course is one of the most consistently rewarding labels within the modern composition/ modern classical fields.
From the early 1970’s Thriller: A Cruel Picture is a Swedish slice of exploitation pie, which blends uneasy sleaze, sudden-at-times quite jarring moments of hardcore action, with drug-taking and brutal violence. Here from the folks at Synapse Films is a double-disc release of this notorious euro exploitation film, taking in two versions of the film, and a few extras.
Released in the early 90’s Midnight 2 was the sequel to 1980’s backwoods satanic thriller chiller Midnight. It features the only surviving member of the first film's deranged family, who’s now set up in the city stalking victims with a video camera, to take them home and torture them. The film is a low-grade SOV venture, with hamming it up/ OTT killer, fleeting gore, and a fair bit of early flashback footage. Here from SRS Cinema- those saviours of lost, near-forgotten SOV/ ultra-low-budget horror is a DVD release of the film, featuring two cuts of the picture.
b°tong is a German project that blurs 'n' blends electro-ambient and musique concrete. It started in the early 2000s, with this being the project's twenty-fifth album - and what we find here is a mix of sinisterly stretched smartphone video audio, disorientated warped field recordings, and effect bent vocals.
Black Friday is a 2021 sci-fi horror comedy based in a toy store, where fleshy alien sacks crash in from the sky and turn folks into reptilian zombies. It features genre names like Devon Sawa and Bruce Campbell, and while it’s not the most original/ground break film, it’s a charming and entertaining enough romp. Here from Signature Entertainment is a streamed release of the film.
Hedvig Mollestad is a Norwegian jazz guitarist, composer and vocalist from Alesund. She is famous for her collaborations with the likes of The Cumshots, Jon Eberson and Jarle Bernhoft, as well as being the leader of The Hedvig Mollestad Trio, where she handles guitar and vocals alongside Ellen Brekken (Bass) and Ivar Loe Bjørnstad (drums). Tempest Revisited is the follow up to her critically acclaimed debut solo album, Ekhidna, and features Bjørnstad on drums, as well as Martin Myhre, Peter Eric Vergeni and Karl Nyberg on sax, Martin Eberson on keys and synth and finally Trond Franes on bass duties. The album is the studio recording of a piece originally performed at Parken Kulturhus in Alesund in 2018 as a commission to celebrate their 20th anniversary and can be seen as a follow up to Arne Nordheim’s Tempest, parts of which were performed at the opening of Parken in 1998.
Tempest is a two-track wall noise split. It's a CDR/ digital release, which features two around thirty-minute takes on the genre, with each giving their own twist on this most brutal of genres. Featured here are Polish project Vilgoc, which has been sporadically releasing material since the early 2000s. And Barrera- whom I’m guessing is either a new project, or another sporadically venture - as I can’t find any information on the project, including where they are from.
Distimia is a gnarly ‘n’ nasty example of walled noise from Brazilian project Niil. It’s a self-released digital track that slides in at just under the half-an-hour mark, and boy it’s brutally battering in its intent and attack.