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Black Chapel is a masterful example of atmospheric & creative walled noised texturing from one of the inventors of the form Werewolf Jerusalem- aka US noise legend Richard Ramirez. The two track album originally appeared back 2009 as an ltd vinyl release (144 copies) on Italian noise label Urashima- this new edition of the album comes in the form of a CD.
This neatly packaged tape is from Peter Keller, the figure behind such heavyweights as Bacillus, Condo Horro, and Geißt, and indeed the owner of the ULFO label. In an apparent departure from the above projects, Scholl - named after, and themed around, the heroic actions of Sophie Scholl of the White Rose during the Nazi regime - is primarily rhythmic, even beat-based; however, the firm pursuance of harsh noise in an unadulterated, pure form - and a commanding grip of those techniques - remains a dominant presence here.
Live Feed sits at the more grimy 'n' sleazed end of the torture porn genre- with it's blend of leering nudity, brutal beatings, grim simulated sexual situations, and later deranged gore. Here from Unearthed Films, those seekers of all things brutal & disturbing is a recent Blu Ray release of the film- bringing together a new scan of the film & a good enough selection of extras.
Alexis Korner is often considered the founding father of British blues, having risen to fame in the early 60s, Korner was an influence on a host of would be stars, Rod Stewart, Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page, John Mayall, Keith Richards and Brian Jones are all known to have sat in with his band from time to time before becoming famous in their own right. Whilst Korner never achieved the success of his young friends, he was always a key face in the British blues scene. Some years later in 1972 Korner had been invited to tour America with Humble Pie, which inadvertently led to the forming of the accidental super group Snape. He met fellow guitarist/vocalist Peter Thorup, and they were joined by the King Crimson rhythm section of Boz (bass) and Ian Wallace (drums), as well as Crimson saxophonist, Mel Collins, once their own tour had come to an end. Before long the band found themselves in the studio, the result of which would become Accidentally Born in New Orleans. Named after the city in which the band had made their debut.
Swirling is the first studio album in twenty or so years from Sun Ra Arkestra, those purveyors of cosmic and spiritually spaced-out jazz. It finds the project offering up an eleven-track album, which aside from one new track, features a selection of often fairly drastic new versions of classic/older material.
An intercontinental collaboration between Taylor Deupree and Federico Durand, This Valley of Old Mountains is a meditative piece capturing the softness and beauty of the natural world. A perfect soundtrack to coffee and reflection, this eponymous album stands in stark contrast to the tumult of our 2020 world. This reminder that nature is serene, nature is for recharging, and nature is to be cherished serves as a great respite from the world, but also as a jumping off point to act fast to save what we can.
Appearing in the dying embers of the 80’s slasher boom Memorial Valley Massacre is an enjoyable, at times tonally wonky, though not terrible original addition to the genre. The straight-to-video stalk ‘n’ slasher venture flip flops between the camp & comic, charming & cheesy- with deranged at points brutal killings, and a killer that managers to flick between the ridiculous & tragic- all topped off with a wonderful off-kilter easy listening synth soundtrack, that you’ll either love or hate. From the guys over at Vinegar Syndrome here we have a region A Blu Ray release- taking in the company’s normal great scan, and a few extras.
New Invention is a visceral and often highly intense jazz record- that barely ever lets-up, in either its pace nor attack. The seven-track album brings together alto sax player Colin Webster, and percussionist Andrew Lisle. The CD release appears on the Belgium label New Wave Of Jazz and comes in their house style white & grey boxed mini gatefold.
Crosscurrents is an extremely apt title for this recent CD release from the Rubicon Quartet. As the album, often rapidly, shifts and swings between playful ‘n’ harmonic edged free jazz, and noised- up to angular improv. All making for a decidedly invigorating, yet often memorable record.
Urban Eden is the project of the multidisciplinary artists Liz Helman and Dominic Hemy, and via the collaboration the pair share their love of drones and subtly twisted soundscapes.
The Fu Manchu Cycle is a Blu Ray boxset bringing together the five films released by maverick British producer and writer Harry Alan Towers in the mid-to-late 1960s. For those not in know Fu Manchu was an oriental super-villain created by English writer Sax Rohmer- in all between the years 1913 & 1959 he penned thirteen novels featuring Fu. The character & it’s stories have very much of a pulp action/ adventure tone- the books and screen adaptions of the character are seen as racist- and to make it worse the Fu character has never being played by an oriental actor. For this take on the character, we have horror icon Christopher Lee playing the part of Fu- and on the whole, these five films are trashy & fun romps in pulp fiction, that turn slightly darker & nastier in the later films
Ring Road Ring is a twelve-inch vinyl release that brings together around half-an-hours worth of road field recordings captured by contact microphones attached to the concrete pylons around the Ring Road, which loops around the city of Coventry in the West Midlands. The recordings here go from untreated & lightly manipulated/ arranged- with the sonic pallet moving from melancholically droning, muffled almost beat like texturing, and churning industrial-like sonic constructions.
Constructions sits somewhere between improv, sparse industrial/ electro texturing, and gloomy mood music- blending both electronics & electro captured organic instrumentation. The release presents its self as eight-track/ forty two minute CD that’s released by respected Polish experimental label Zoharum.
Centred around respected Austrian keyboardist Joe Zawinul, of highly influential fusion band weather Report, The Zawinul Syndicate blended together fusion with world music and general genre trait mixing. Here from BGO records, we have a double CD release of the bands second and third albums- 1989’s Black Water, and 1992’s Lost Tribes- with both been digitally remastered.
Here’s an extremely fascinating documentary about Penny Slinger- a largely forgotten English artist,who in the ’60s and ’70s created both erotically charged & surreally dark works in various mediums. The film managers to remain focused, interesting & never too pretentious- making it stand out as one of the more worthy docs I’ve seen focusing in on the arts/artists in recent memory.Here from Anti-World Releasing is a recent Blu Ray release of the film-the disc features the companies normal attention to worthy & interesting extras, which makes for the ultimate edition of this doc.
Ah, Mr. Bungle. I, like probably many others, had my first encounter with Mr. Bungle through Mike Patton's t-shirt in Faith No More's "Epic" video. Those were simpler times, so it took many years before I was able to actually hear them. By that time, I was really drifting from Mike Patton and his many, many projects, and it never landed with me. When their re-recorded The Raging Wrath of The Easter Bunny Demo hit my desk, I was less than thrilled. And because of this, I hit play before I read anything about it. I was beyond pleasantly surprised.
The Beast Must Die is a 1974 werewolf movie starring horror legend Peter Cushing alongside Calvin Lockhart, Marlene Clark, Charles Gray and Michael Gambon, and directed by Paul Annett who is better known for his TV work, having worked as a director on Eastenders, Grange Hill, Emmerdale, Byker Grove and perhaps more relevantly Tales of the Unexpected, Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense and Dead of Night. Based on a short story, “There Shall Be No Darkness”, written by James Blish, the screenplay was written by Michael Winder whose credits include The Avengers, Ace of Wands and The Saint.
Over the years there has been more than a handful of books about, or connected to San Francisco based avant pop/ creative musical project The Residents- but I must say O for Obscurity, Or, The Story of N is possible the one of the more curious/ bizarre. The one hundred & thirty-page paperback focuses in on N. Senada, a highly secretive/ rarely seen Bavarian musician who is said to have both influenced The Residents concepts & sound. The book purports to be drawn from encrypted diaries Senada’s which were discovered in The Residents archives- with the whole thing been written up into a biography form by British writer Andrew Hook.
The wonderful named Con Funk Shun were a seven-piece group from northern Californian, who between the mid-1970s and late 1980s pumped out funk, disco, R&B and more mellowed-out soul-funk. Confunkshunizeya is a two-CD disc anthology of the group’s recordings- bringing together thirty-two tracks from between the years 1976 and 1988, and while their sound was fairly derivative/ not that distinct- they knew how to groove & swoon with best of them- meaning if you dig 70’s/ 80’s funk/ soul-funk you’ll be wanting to snap this up
German female experimental duo Black Burst Sound Generator create a novel combination of rhythmic analog electronics and processed clarinet playing. This self titled album comes in the form of either screen printed vinly pressing(ltd to 100 copies), or a digital download.
From May last year here we have a two-way textured noise split- the C40/ digital release brings together two side long examples of worthy & fairly distinctive wall matter. This release appeared on Spanish label Marbre Negre, with copies still be available of this eighteen edition releases.
Eugene Critchley is a longstanding project from Cory Strand, the brains and body behind the celebrated Altar of Waste label; the once uber-prolific Strand has been quieter of recent, or at least entered my line of vision less, and this tape is a welcome sight. The cassette comes in a wee bag, with a glorious inlay featuring adapted art from the cover of a certain Slayer album. Although I consider myself to be a huge fan of Slayer, I’ll admit to not knowing their earliest albums very well - I doubt I’ve even heard Reign In Blood in the last five years - consequently I can’t comment on how precisely the Eugene Critchley tracks relate to Slayer’s Hell Awaits album, but they are strong enough to stand alone regardless.
Delightfully varied and at times zany, Turkish-Swiss Café Türk found their niche in 1980's Europe through very strange means. However, their commitment to their sound and convictions kept them from selling out and remaining true to their vision. While this may have cost them some fame and fortune, it assured that their sound would remain inimitable and still engaging decades after their break up. Zel Zelle teamed up with crate-digger Grup Ses to bring Café Türk back to a modern audience and give their intriguing sound a new life.
Burst City is an early 1980’s visually amphetamine-fuelled & futuristic trip into punk rock, car/motorbike chases, and sleazed gangster- with side roads into kinky sex, drugs, violence and depravity. There may not be much depth, plot, or at points sense to the whole thing- but as manic & heady visual overload- I can’t recall of many films like this. Here from Arrow Video is a new Blu Ray release of this overloading visually trip from Japan- taking in a new scan, commentary track, and a few other extras.