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The Red Mountains of Almases sees the welcome return of Richard Ramirez’s bigfoot focused wall-noise project Fouke, which stands as my favourite project of this respected and influential American noisemaker. This new release appears in the form of a C32/ digital download, which takes in two fifteen minutes slices of dense-yet-atmospheric wall making.
From late summer last year this self-titled release is the debut from Scream For Help, which is a new(ish) one-off walled noise/ textured noise project from US noisemaker Sean E. Ramirez-Matzus (theNIGHTproduct, Thin Mountain, Black Leather Jesus, Last Rape, etc). The release appeared as a made to order C32/ digital download- I’m reviewing the latter.
Notes From The Underground- Radical Music of The Twentieth Century is the latest in El’s series of compilations' focusing on experimental sonic fare from yesterday. This time the four-CD set rather darts all over the place, from (by modern standards) fairly straightforward/ formal classical music, onto jazz- be it avant or straighter, avant classical fare, soundtrack work, and fleeting trips into Indian music. So, it’s not totally living up to its titles promise, there are some interesting/ worth sonic fair on display, though I wouldn’t say it’s quite as consistent/ focused as some of the other releases in this series.
The Last 86 is the first release in a few years from Italian noise project Fukte. It’s a CDR, which takes in two around nineteen minutes examples of shifting, at times texturally dwelling harsh noise craft.
Venom aka The Legend of Spider Forest is an early 70’s mystery/ thriller film, with light touches of horror and action. It follows an English painter visiting a forest set Bavarian village and getting obsessed with a strange siren-like young woman who has a Spider birthmark. The film blends eerily moody-to- vaguely trippy/ erotic tinged woodland footage, subtle nods towards folk & gothic horror, with a primally focus on up-to-no good village’s mystery/ thriller. Here from Twilight Time is a new Blu Ray release of this lesser-seen film, featuring a new scan of the film and colour inlay booklet.
From the early 1980s Deadly Games is a slasher that has a rather pronounced drama, later on, romantic edge to its proceedings. It is a decidedly lopsided affair, but boy when the slasher elements coming in, they are cruel, at points damn right chilling. Here from Arrow Video, both in the UK and stateside, is a new Blu ray release of this lesser-known slice 'n' dice- with the disc featuring a new 2k scan of the film, a commentary track by the great slasher loving podcast The Hysteria Continues, and a few other extras.
Ambient collaborative release, Fantastic Journey, sees its eighth year anniversary bringing in a re-release on CD digipak, complete with a 10-minute bonus track. The duo consists of Mystified handling the background pieces and The Circular Ruins handling the foreground effects. Composed as a homage to early sci-fi pioneers like Jules Verne, H.G. Well, and Edgar Rice Burroughs (to name a few), the resulting tracks offer up a wondrous exploration of fantastic and new worlds. Both below the surface of our own and flying above those far distant, Fantastic Journey takes the listener on an intergalactic tour well worth the admission.
All or Nothing is a 2002 British drama by acclaimed writer/ director Mike Leigh (Secrets and Lies, Naked and Another Year) starring a host of familiar faces including Timothy Spall (Mr Turner, Harry Potter and Auf Wiedersehen, Pet), Lesley Manville (Maleficent, Phantom Thread and Secrets and Lies), Ruth Sheen (Run Fat Boy Run, Vera Drake and Another Year) and in smaller roles Maxine Peake (The Theory of Everything, Shameless and Funny Cow), Mark Benton (Anna and the Apocalypse, The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus and Early Doors) and a very young James Corden (Peter Rabbit, Trolls and Cats).
During the post-apocalyptic/action sci-fi cycle of the 1980s, there were more than a few wacky ideas/concepts for films- but I think it’s fair to say that Raiders of Atlantis has one of the more ridiculous/ improbable. Basically, it features a gang of punked-up warriors on spiked ‘n’ razor-tipped vehicles travelling from a recently raised part of Atlantis to invade a Caribbean Island. It features a disco theme tune, some fairly brutal kills, tons of dumb action ‘n’ explosions, and enough 80’s camp to float a boat. Here from the guys at Severin is a Blu Ray release of the film, featuring a commentary track and a few other things.
From the early 1970s Voices is an are-they-mad-or-not psychological thriller, which were rather popular during the decade. Thankfully, it features some creative at points spooky twists that make it stand out from the crowd. Firstly, it blends film and video footage in quite an interesting, at times unease manner. Next, a large part of the film takes place in just one room with just two characters- giving it of a stagey quality. And lastly, we get some neat 'n' nasty twists happening in the films last quarter. Here from Powerhouse is Blu Ray release of the film
Static Chaos is a half-an-hour shot of tightly hacking and lightly feedback whistling HNW from Tennessee based Churner. It must be a good few years since I’ve heard/ reviewed anything from this harsh noise/ walled noise project- and I must say this is a nicely taut and tense example of walling.
500lbs Down the Stairs is the walled noise form at its most bitterly droning and grimly hazed. This is a recent short digital release from Cincinnati Whore’s Breath, which appears on Seattle’s Imploding Sounds.
Emotionally Extorted is the first release from this new project from American transgender noise maker Cory Adieen(Root Cellar, Monolithic Torment, Submachine Gun, solo work). It’s a single-track release, which rolls in at just over the hour work- and offers up a slice of rewardingly feasting and creatively detailed walled noise craft.
Cure and Mound feature two examples of edgy ‘n’ eventful improv for prepared chamber and piano. The CD/ digital download slides in at nearing the eighty-minute mark, and it’s a shifting & darting ride- with both players sparking off each other nicely.
Melancholia is an improv release that shifts( at points) rapidly from starkly felt ‘n’ fraught, to the more manic and detailed. It features two respected euro Avant players- Belgian guitarist Dirk Serries- who also runs the New Wave Of Jazz label and is also behind respected/ inferential ambient project Vidna Obmana. And British double bassist John Edwards- who since the late ’90s has built up a large and respected body of work collaborating with the likes of Evan Parker, Lol Coxhill, Tony Levin, and many others.
Here we have the latest release in Righteous ongoing series of Lux And Ivy compilations, which see respected music journalist Dave Henderson crate-digging for 45’s. And for this two-CD set we find a fifty-track collection that shifts between 50’s novelty pop ‘n’ roll, quirky surf, wayward & waving ballads, and all manner of fare you might well have found on the more obscure jukeboxes in the ’50s & the ’60s.
The Devil’s Men is a pulpy-to-creepy slice of black magic focused horror from the 1970s. It features both Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasence, and is a great blend of horror, light action & suspense- oh and the whole things topped off with a wonderful proto dark ambient/ ritual industrial score from none other than Brian Eno. Here from Powerhouse is a new Blu ray release of the film- taking in a great new scan of the film, a commentary track, and one or two other things.
Originally released in the year 1998 Frequency L.S.D. stands as one of the great brain-meltingly psychedelic noise albums of all time. The fourteen-track album is a manic ride into the tripped-out harsh noise form- it blends ‘n’ blurs shredding electronics, baying vocals, sudden & searing pitch sustains, with darting dwells of moody headiness- all warped in overloaded-yet-psychedelic production. Here from respected British noise/ experimental label Cold Spring, is the first-ever vinyl release of this rightly hailed noise masterpiece.
Starting around 2019, Pless is a collaboration between Leo Matkovic and Philipp Thöni, formed as a way to define and thoroughly describe fictional places of their creation. Hypernormal focuses on 7 of these spaces and constructs these environments with varying electronic tones, layers, and flourishes. The ensuing album is an engaging look at not only the fictitious spaces created, but the creative spaces in both Matkovic & Thöni's minds.
From the late 1970s, Delirium is a haphazard crossbreed between cop thriller, proto-slasher, and namploitation flick. It features some really nasty and sleazed killings, though some equally fairly pedestrian 70’s cop action, with some simmering namploitation undertones. The film is one of the few Video Nasty films I’d yet to see, so when I saw this new Severin Blu Ray release- I was most keen to see it. And while the film is far from a lost masterpiece- if you like mean spirited and sexualized slashers, you’ll enjoy what we have here well enough.
The Sexy Box Is a three-disc Blu set bringing together the early wacky ‘n’ raunchy comedies released by Troma films in the early 1980s, a few years before they locked into their more known quirky comic gore ‘n’ boobs bound fare. The box presents us with three films in all 1982’s Waitress, The First Turn on !!, and Stuck On You- both from 1983. With each film coming presented on their own disc, and featuring a selection of extras- including commentary tracks for each of the films.
Transgression is a low budget 1990’s serial killer film, which blends in elements of kinky sleazy and haphazardly arty touches. It’s a film that swings between rewarding enough moments of shock and puzzlement, though there are frustrating pacing issues and some overly repetitive use of imagery. Here from the folks at SRS Cinema is a new DVD release of this film, offering up a commentary track and a few other extras.
Polish techno musician Michal Jablonski began life as a DJ spinning records in the clubs of Warsaw. He was so inspired by the heavy sounds of those techno records that he decided that it was time for him to produce his own music. This led to Michal experimenting with different styles and genres of electronic music, in order to discover his own path. Michal has since stopped DJing other people’s music to concentrate on producing his own. Humanity is only Michal’s second full-length album following on from his full-length debut State Virtual, and a host of singles and Eps.
From the folks at Ominous Recordings & Phage Tapes here’s Leopard Skin- the next in the series of reissues of classic material from Canadian harsh noise/ walled noise master The Rita. The release comes in the form of a pro pressed CD and features two long out of print releases.