Loading
This is a curious little release from Room Temperature, with Fergus Kelly delivering 17 tracks that arrive in a simple plastic wallet. It’s a solo effort - and it’s a huge, perhaps overwhelming effort. Summarised simply, the album largely consists of short tracks (stretching to about three minutes, with some slightly longer pieces and one long ten-minute work) constructed from rhythmic layers of bass, samples, but most of all percussion.
Originally released back in the late 1950s The Singing Ringing Tree (aka Das singende, klingende Bäumchen) is a surreal and strange west German fairy tale film, which landed up been sold to the BBC in the mid 60’s- going onto the puzzle and freak-out a generation of kids. Here from Network is a new Blu Ray release of this oddity- taking in a new HD 1080p print of the film, and an early 2000’s interview with one of the lead actors.
Morgenröte is a recent 70 plus minute CD from Austrian project Allerseelen- and it’s very much a blend/ meeting of the present and the past. The first half of the release features ten recent compositions/ re-takes on old tracks, and here we get the projects modern blend ‘n’ blurring of industrial, neo-folk, neo-classical, with other creative genre-blending. And the second half takes in eight tracks from the project’s beginnings- which are very much more focused on the grimly stripped back and crude- with a ritual industrial/ barrenly stabbing synth craft feel.
Here we have a new release from prime sonic unsettler Rudolf Eb.er. Since the 1980s this Austrian sound artist has carved out his only highly distinctive and unnerving sound world, and NECRO ORGIA is another half-hour trip into unease, dread and sonic fear.
Étude de la profondeur (''Study of Depth'') is the third album from Territoire, a project of French composer Olivier Arsonm, and it is released on the Humo Internacional label- as either a CD or LP.
This new two-disc blu ray set from Arrow Video brings together two films from up ‘n’ coming US Indie Horror director Chad Crawford Kinkle. There’s 2019’s Dementer, a psychological thriller set in a special needs home, and Jug Face from 2013 a cult drama come tripped out organic fantasy edged with gore moments. Both films have backwoods/ folk horror elements in their make-up, as well as creative dark art edges. And as we’ve come to expect from Arrow Video release, we get two great interesting extras packed discs.
With synthesized tones acting as long, expressive brush strokes, artist Yann Novak crafts a vivid image of sound in motion with Lifeblood of Light and Rapture. Often times like skyscrapers peaking through the fog, his latest plays like a slowly unfolding storm just distant enough to give the listener an illusion of safety, but close enough that one feels that being swept off one's feet is inevitable. A great mix of dense and open, Lifeblood pays off the patient listener.
Day Of The Reaper is a very crude ‘n’ raw early 80’s slasher. The films shot on super 8, with an overloud and wonkily droning synth soundtrack, awkward post dubbing, and very cheap gore. Think if H.G. Lewis, had been a slasher obsessed teen in the 1980s, then this could have been a film he might have made. Here from the home of all things SOV and ultra-low-budget horror SRS cinema is a recent region free DVD of the picture- taking in a commentary track, and a few other extras.
Having recently experienced the glory of Bruno Mattei’s Strike Commando, I was delighted to receive its sequel to review. Mattei is a jack of all trades, having tried his hand at every genre, yet he’s mastered none, except perhaps the trash classic. Mattei is most well known for his Fulci inspired zombie epics, Zombie Creeping Flesh, Zombie 3: Hello of the Living Dead and Rats: Night of Terror, however, over the years he has tried his hand at pretty much every genre imaginable, and in the late 1980s he turned his attention to the action/adventure movies that were being spawned as vehicles for the likes of Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Norris and Van Damme. The Strike Commando films fit squarely into that category.
As the title of this release suggests it's a four-way walled noise split- with each contributor offering up an around twenty-minute 'wall', so this digital release has a total runtime of one hour and twenty minutes. The tone/ attack of all of the ‘walls’ here are similar crude ‘n’ searing- so don’t expect either detailed textural dexterity or highly distinct/ original noise making- this release is all about thick 'n' raging wall-craft.
After an absence of a year or two, They Whisper is a new release from Sean E. Ramirez-Matzus (theNightproduct, A Week Of Kindness, Leather Jesus and Last Rape) dense ‘n’ dark ambient noise project Red Hook. The release was put out by Sean’s own label The White Visitation- appearing as either a C32 tape or digital download.
Violation is a troubling-to-intense drama come rape-revenge thriller- it features some great gutsy & convincing acting, some seriously gruelling & extreme moments, and a broodingly arty visual edge. Here from Acorn Media is a Blu Ray release of this Shudder channel exclusive film- with the disc taking in a few extras.
Passing Through is a six-CD boxset bringing together all of the studio work from Help Yourself. A London based rock group that existed in the early ’70s and created more of a USA focused sound which shifted from barroom blues-rock, melodic country-rock, though to lightly acid-tinged psych-rock. Like many bands of this period they largely slipped into obscurity- so it’s great to see the folks at prog/ 70 rock focused Esoteric Records releasing this rather classy looking boxset.
From July this year, The Process Of Inevitable Decomposition is fifty-two minute example of tightly rattling ‘n’ bass grinding ribbed walled noise from Russian project Шумоизоляция/ Shumoizolyatsiya . It’s a self-released digital download, and if you fancy checking it out it can be found here.
Originally released in 1989 Control And Resistance was the second and final album from Austin Texas four-piece Watchtower- it’s an album that blurs and blends Trash, prog metal, and heavy jazz fusion touches. And thirty-two years after its initial release is still a wonderful jarring 'n' jerking record, that’s fired up with both virtuoso passion and meaty metallic energy. Here from Dissonance Productions, part of the Cherry Red family of labels is a new CD release of the album.
The Collingswood Story is one of the more creative and quietly effective found footage films of the early 2000s. It builds from slight kooky 'n' charming beginnings, moving onto moments of subtle dread and unease, before ramping up to a tensely chilling finale. The film has been out-of-print for some years now and has never got a Blu Ray release. So, it’s great to have this new region free Blu Ray from the guys at Cauldron Films- taking a new scan of the film, with a director’s commentary, and a few other extras.
Haunt is a 2019 thriller/ horror film that finds a group of twenty-somethings going to a rundown creepy walkthrough on Halloween night. It’s a film that switches from building unease and dread to a gory-bound stalk ‘n’ hack in its last quarter. I’d heard great things about the film when it first came out, & dug the trailer, but for some reason or another didn’t get around seeing it- until now. Here from Ronin Flix is a new special edition Blu Ray of the film- taking in a host of new & old extras- such as two commentary tracks, a making-of doc, and more.
Sao Paulo Underground is the two-piece experimental rock outfit of Rob Mazurek and Mauricio Takara, here collaborating for the first time with Spanish electronic outfit Tupperwear, for the vinyl LP release Saturno Magico. As I am unfamiliar with either projects work, I'll simply be evaluating this album on its own contents alone.
Un Fiocco Di Neve is an often jarring, unpredictable though at points rather haunting album that mixes lulling and moody piano playing, minimal electro texturing, improv-based sound-making, and a good amount of space/silence. Here from the Italian label, 901 Editions is a CD/ digital download release that appeared in March of this year.
Affective Room Tones is a release that sits in a strange place between drone making, modified field recordings, stretched ‘n’ wonky noise texturing, and sound art. It’s certainly something fairly distinctive and unequal- though it’s not an entirely successful venture. With sometimes the structure and flow of the compositions becoming a bit too blurred /vague to remain wholly compelling.
Here we have a new two-track release from New Jersey-based wall noise project Scarlet Diva. The two around twenty-minute ‘walls’ are examples of flitting-to-feasting static & bass bound noise-making. And as usual with this project, the theme is femininity and its (sometimes) corruption/ soling….though this time around there’s a rather singer/ songwriter vibe, at least in the samples used at the start of each of the untitled tracks.
It’ll Get Better is a C60/ digital download from early on this year- it features two half an hour examples of tight ‘n’ tautly layered walled noise from this project from Eugene, Oregon.
Here from the guys at Arrow Video- both in the UK and US- is a four-film boxset focusing on a selection of 1950’s films from producer Sam Katzman-whose low budget production often gave great returns. He moved from making action/adventure serials in the early 1930s, before becoming known for blends of Sci-fi and horror- and this boxset focuses on four films that blended nuclear and cold war-related elements with sci-fi/ horror settings. As we’ve come to expect from Arrow, we get a good selection of extras on the set- including new commentary tracks for each of the films, other extras, and a sixty-page inlay booklet.
15 Degrees Below Zero are a San Francisco three-piece who blend 'n' blur moody guitar/ bass tones, with electronics & atmospheric noise scaping. They create an often dense and dramatic sound, which takes in elements ambience, post-rock, electro noise rock and cinematic mood setting. Open Doors is the band's fifth full-length album, and I must say it’s both varied and rewarding in its nine-track span.