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Dogs Don’t Wear Pants is a recent Finish film that swings, sometimes haphazardly, between dealing- with-a-loss drama, and a BDSM themed jet black romantic comedy. It’s a film that one moment will be pulling you through fraught emotional loss, the next dipping you down in troubling pain and suffocating obsession, before bringing you up for fleeting breaths of tragic-to-dark humour and wince including horror. Here from Anti-Worlds Releasing those seekers of distinctive/ unusual film and documentaries is a well-deserved Blu Ray release of the film, bringing together a directors commentary and a few other extras.
Experimental stalwart Andy Ortmann's Panicsville project should be very familiar to M[m] readers. Never traditional, Panicsville has the ability to change at will, and this is evidenced on Electroacoustic Underground. As the title suggests, this album is heavily rooted in electroacoustic composition, and uses its time and space wisely. Well assembled, the pieces here construct a wonderfully intriguing whole, connecting unlikely sections through vibe alone.
Apophenia is a seven-track album from Tarab- aka Australian sound artist Eamon Sprod. The release highlights Sprod’s ear for selecting interesting sounds and then arranging/composing them in a largely rewarding, clever, and at points unpredictable manner
Years of Lead is a Blu ray boxset focusing on one of the lesser appreciated/ covered of Italian genre films genre Poliziotteschi- highly masculine focused, and often brutal crime thrillers. Featured on the three-disc set we get five films, with new/ largely great prints of each picture and a good selection of extras. The films here move from the young sociopaths causing chaos and death of The Savage Three and Like Rapid Dogs. The brutal cops ‘n’ robbers of Colt 38 Special Squad, the car case focused Highway Racer, and cat & mouse lo-key psychological thriller of No, the Case is Happily Resolved.
Nosferatu In Venice is a late 80’s shot of deeply schlocky, messily structured, though at points moodily seedy slice of euro- horror- featuring the infamously difficult and unhinged Klaus Kinski in one of his final roles. The film supposable started as an unofficial sequel to Werner Herzog’s 1979 artily grim ‘n’ glum take on the vampire mythos Nosferatu- which of course featured Kinski as the vamp. But what we get instead is a rather lopsided, at points wonkily strung together film- that shifts between sleazed campness, unintentional amusing OTT-ness, and a few effective enough moments atmosphere, female flesh edged gore and moody shots of Venice. Here from the folks over at Severin- is the first-ever Blu Ray release of the film, taking in a new scan, and a rather interesting feature-length doc focusing in on Kinski's last few films.
Variations VII is a John Cage composition, that utilizers shifting 'n' layered blends of radio banter/ song snippets, phone call audio, and all manner of sonic flotsam and jetsam, with more subtly electro- noise tones coming into play at points. It’s certainly not for those looking for structured/ logic soundscaping, but if you after something that’s eventful, unpredictable and later quite chaotic in its unfold- this will certainly appeal.
Night Blossoms is the 7th full-length album from this highly talented French pianist and composer. It’s a six-track CD release that finds the Frenchman once more offer up a highly compelling and entrancing collection of tracks- that are both moodily felt and beautifully played.
This rather wonderful-if-macabrely titled release is a six-track collab, which sits somewhere between buzzing 'n' mind-expanding drone matter, atmospherically simmering electro-acoustic texturing, and general ambient 'n' ethnic flavoured improv. If I was to compare it to anything I’d say a sparser/ more pared-back Starving Weirdo’s, or maybe Hwyl Nofio at their more starkly serrated- though this release does has its own subtly surreal and trippily unease flavour, which really does gets deep into your marrow. The release appeared late last year, as either a crystal clear vinyl or a CD in a fold-out digipak - both of which had an edition of just 300 copies. I’m reviewing the latter.
Puzzle is a 1974 giallo movie directed by Duccio Tessari (The Bloodstained Butterfly, Death Occurred Last Night and A Pistol for Ringo). The film stars Senta Berger (The Ambushers, Kir Royal and most recently the TV series Under Suspicion), Luc Merenda (The Violent professionals, Hostel Part II and Torso), Umberto Orsini (Story of a Cloistered Nun, Alberto De Martino’s The Antichrist and Emanuelle II and III) and Anita Strindberg (The Case of the Scorpions Tale, Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key and A Lizard in A Woman’s Skin).
To Sleep And Wake Unafraid is a two-track example of tautly tense ‘n’ churningly atmospheric walled noise from this New Jersey-based project. The release originally appeared late last year as a C30/ digital release on Detroit based Anti-Androgen Records- then got a digital release from the artist early on this year.
Anti- Action Figure stands as one of the neat looking/ coolly presented wall noise releases of all time. It appeared in two versions: a hand number box, with a hand-painted miniature figure of the black bag wearing wall maker himself and a forty-minute tape, and an edition with just the miniature and a C40. Sonically it’s rather business as usual from Vomir- with two side-long and untitled examples of crudely feasting and searing wall-craft, though as with all of the Frenchman's work there is both bleak appeal and rewarding pull to the ‘wall’ craft, with subtle hints at grim ambient crawl/ oppression on both tracks.
From the early 1980s Beyond Terror is a Spanish film that blends mean-spirited crime thriller with ghoulish supernature horror. The film shifts from a robbery gone wrong terrority, onto taut kidnapping and abuse caper, before sliding into creepy ‘n’ cobwebbed lined isolated church/ crypt horror. Beyond Terror is liberally splashed with gore too- first, from crime spree related shootings/ deaths, before moving creepy-to- brutal supernatural fed kills. All wrapped up in an atmosphere that goes from tense anything-can-happen, to low-key and subtly unsettling. Here from the relatively new genre film reissuing label Cauldron Films is a recent region free Blu Ray release of the film- taking in a new 4K scan of the picture, and a commentary track from respected cult film historian Kat Ellinger.
Dipping into the highly visited trough of Lucio Fulci, FULCI returns with their latest tribute to the maestro, Exhumed Information. A concept album based on the director's "Voices From Beyond," these grimy metallers spew forth 10 tracks of lo-fi riffage. While certainly not the most entirely original record on record, Exhumed Information isn't without its charm and will certainly appeal to many horror-loving metalheads.
Eternal Messenger is an impressive CD boxset charting the career of Kingdom Come- the 1970’s prog/psychedelic/experimental rock band that was fronted by Arthur Brown- who will be known to most as his big late 60’s rock single "Fire".The five-CD set takes in the bands three studio albums- Galactic Zoo Dossier, Kingdom Come, and Journey. plus Two CD’s worth of jam/live material, and a great selection of bonus tracks. With the set getting topped off with a thick glossy inlay booklet, and a fold-out poster. The set appears on Esoteric Records- Cherry Red’s prog focused sub-label, and it is one of the labels most classy looking/ thorough boxset yet.
Grandfather is the three-CD anthology of Dear Mr Time- an Essex band that started out in the ’70s as a prog band, later re-group in the 2010s as a blend of light prog/ pop-rock. And it certainly shows how a band’s sound can dramatically change over the years- for better or worse, depending on your musical preferences!
Since leaving Steeleye Span in 2013, violinist Peter Knight has devoted all of his attention to his trio Gigspanner. The group have received a wealth of positive press and have developed a reputation as a hard-working and ground-breaking force for change in the UK folk scene. Maverick magazine described them as “pushing at the boundaries, expanding the possibilities and in the process making some of the most beautiful music the genre has to offer", whilst Spiral Earth described them as having “notes seemingly plucked from the stars and rhythms from the equator”. Alongside Peter on violin the band are made up of guitarist Roger Flack and Sacha Trochet on drums.
Friendship’s Death is a decidedly stripped back, yet quietly clever and intriguing Sci-Fi drama from the late 1980s. It features in its lead role Tilda Swinton, as Friendship, a woman who may/ may not be an android diplomat on a peace mission from another world. The film is set in the year 1970 in Jordan, during Black September/ Jordanian civil war-and largely takes place in a series of hotel rooms where Friendship interacts with jaded Scottish journalist Sulllivan( Bill Peterson). From BFI here we have a recent dual Blu Ray & DVD release of the film- talking in a 4k scan of the picture, newly recorded commentary, and a few other extras.
Crossbreeds between noise and more formal music are always difficult propositions- either the noise elements are secondary, feeling like an afterthought. Or the noise elements overwhelm/ unbalance the musical elements- it’s very difficult to get the perfect blend between the two, and more often than not releases that try to do this cross-blending fail or at least come away feeling somewhat disappointed. Once in a lifetime is one of the better/ more rewarding examples of noise/ music crossbreeding- though unfortunately, this sprawling double album does sometimes fall into either of the mentioned problematic camps.
Here we have the debut release from Charlie Chaplin, the new wall-noise project from respected euro -bleak drone maker/HNW creator Damien De Coene. The release appears as a double C60 release on Veil Tapes with the releasing taking in four side-long tracks.
Adoption is a Hungarian drama from the mid-1970s- it focuses on the relationship between a widowed middle-aged woman and a troubled teenage girl. Filmed in starkly moody black and white, the film is subtlety powerful, at points decidedly moving, and surprisingly undated- which you can’t say for many films from the ’70s. Here from Second Run is a region free blu ray release of the picture, which certainly stands as one of the quietly impactful and bleakly compelling dramas I’ve seen in some time.
Transmuter is a rather interesting split- bringing together glum- yet -often- machine churning black metal, and barrenly seared walled noise- all creating a great soundtrack for an oppressive and greyed future, where the machines have finally taken over. The release appeared last summer on Pittsburgh based Enforce Existence- coming as either a CDR (sadly out of print) or a digital download.
Dawn Of Toilet sees this US project offering up another selection of repetitive and noise-up percussive workouts. The C24 takes in a track per side, and basically both follower a similar path- we find rapidly stop/ start drums, which are noise fuzzed-hissed and these are muffled-monotonal ranted male vocals. It’s certainly in the right type of mood release, but if your after relentless battering-meets-seared reputation this will certainly scratch that itch.
Here’s a neatly packaged release from Modern Tapes, with a cassette in an envelope, sealed with a sticker, accompanied by a download code and a sticker of a modular synth with the legend, ‘THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS.’ The tape has two tracks of elemental noise from Verhalten, each piece being around 20 minutes in duration, and sonically both cut from the same cloth - indeed, both tracks are manipulations and transformations of the same material: ‘electromagnetic field recordings from various points in the town where this transient sound mangler was raised. Chopped up, spit out in misaligned patterns and clipped beyond recognition.’ That’s your nutshell review there.
Berlin-based sound artist, Jana Irmert, returns for a third time to Fabrique Records with her latest album, The Soft Bit. Composed around the sonic interpolations of physical textures, The Soft Bit is an interesting play on the textures themselves. As stated by Irmert, "the processed sounds resulting from hard materials would often have soft and tonal qualities whereas those made from "soft" materials like water or air would ultimately be of percussive or harsh and noisy character." When listening to this album, this statement makes one really inquisitive about what source material was used, and which was "the soft bit" - the source or the processed sound.