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The 2nd LP by Italian space jazz duo Divus was just released this year on Boring Machines. Their stripped down sound is a novel combination of baritone saxophone and delay laden analog synth progressions, with a feeling and production not unlike a vintage sci-fi soundtrack. The group's minimalist, circular patterns transport the listener to the cold outer reaches.
Heart Beat Ear Drum is a 2015 documentary about Z'EV – one of the more original & distinctive figures to appear out of the early industrial scene of the late 1970s. US-born, though very much globetrotting, Z’EV was many things- percussionist, sound-artist, conceptual artist, scholar and poet, and this rather wonderful doc covers all sides of the man's work. From respected British industrial/noise/ experimental label Cold Spring- here we have a recent region free DVD release of the film- the label put out more than a few of Z’EV’s albums before he sadly passed in 20017- so it seems fitting for them to put out this DVD release.
SPK's Zamia Lehmanni was originally released in 1986 by Side Effects, and gets a gorgeous, modern reissue from Cold Spring Records. Long out of print, this reissue brings back an old, industrial classic to the world and gets SPK back on the mouths of the masses. Showcasing the early stages of what would become his award-winning soundtrack work, Zamia Lehmanni is a timeless piece of lush sound.
From the BFI here’s Sunday Bloody Sunday- a well made, well-acted, at times artily edged & proactive 1970’s suburban drama- that focuses in on a love triangle between a young male artist, a well respected yet lonely male doctor, and a divorced female office worker. This recent Blu Ray release of the film takes in a new scan, a commentary track, and a good selection of extras.
Voice was the 5th and final album from Sheffield collective Hula- it showed the group at their most sonically dense & crowded with its blend industrial, synthpop, uneasy new romantics & paranoid funk/ darker hued electronica. The album originally appeared back in 1987 on Red Rhino Records- here it gets a CD reissue from the folks over at Klanggalerie, with the original nine tracks been expanded to a fifteen track release, with a new runtime of seventy-five minutes.
Blank is an extremely minimal packaged C30 release from Frances king of wall noise Vomir- it severs up two side long examples of densely spurting ‘n’ churning HNW, that’s as unforgiving as it is crude.
Morte Perversa is a walled noise C30 split that brings together a track apiece from Swiss’s Anonymous Masturbaudioum, and USA’s Tissa Mawartyassari- with both tracks been splendid examples of masterfully made wall-craft.
The Outside is the first full-length album in some time from Italian Dark Ambient project New Risen Throne- it appears as a joint release from Cyclic Law & Old Europa Café, coming as either a double CD or digital download.
Appearing on largely walled noise-based label Void Singularity Recordings here’s Age of Space Storms- which is somewhat of a departure for the label, as what we have here is more dense space-bound noise ambience with some drifting harmonic touches. This release appeared in early summer last year as C60- featuring the same track on both sides of the tape.
Even the Wind Is Afraid( aka Hasta El Viento Tiene Miedo) is a 1968 Mexican horror movie directed by Carlos Enrique Taboada, who is most famous as the director of the rather fabulous 1986 film Poison for the Fairies. Whilst I am quite familiar with the latter title, I was delighted to find that this was not Taboada’s only foray into the field of genre cinema.
NEW is the first release from Dream Catalogue this decade and one of the most "traditional" sounding vaporwave records put out by the label in a good couple of years. CVLTVRE (Stephen Malet) emerged during the peak years of the vaporwave phenomenon, releasing a slew of records in 2014 under a number of monikers before appearing to head off on a trajectory towards IDM, trap and future garage styles on his last solo record as CVLTVRE for Dream Catalogue, Surreal (2016). On NEW, however, he returns with a welcome refinement of classic vaporwave, which Dream Catalogue have in their inimitable fashion christened "Intervapeur".
Before Annabelle, before Chucky, and before Brahms (of The Boy Films) there was another creepy-yet-killer doll on the block- Fats, the cheeky, dirty-mouthed & for some deadly ventriloquist doll that appears in 1978’s Magic. Here from Second Sight is a new Blu Ray release of this classic 70’s psychological horror thriller- which is both darkly amusing, creepy and at times fairly brutal- the disc features a new Print of the film, and a few extras.
Appear in the late 1990s Wax Mask was very much a throwback to gory ‘n’ quirky Italian horror films of the late ’70s/ early ’80s. The film brought together two of the countries' key genre directors- Dario Argento & Lucio Fulci, and for the most part, it’s a fun euro gothic-tinged ride with some neat practical effects, and a few bizarre/ WTH twists. Here on Severin Films is a double-disc reissue of the film- bringing together a Blu Ray featuring a new print of the film, a new commentary, and a good selection of extras. The second disc is a CD taking the film's full soundtrack- all making this the definitive release of the film.
Next in Klanggalerie series of reissues from French avant collective Un Drame Musical Instantané here is the band's fifth album 1984’s L'Homme À La Caméra. It finds the collective deepening & expanding both their dissonant modern classic & the more bizarre theatrical leanings, yet still keeping alive their general avant genre-mixing & matching. Also featured on this reissue is a second never released album La Glace A Trois Faces- all bringing this new releases runtime up to seventy-six minutes.
Brenner & Molenaar is a musical collaboration between Christian Molenaar, part of the San Diego-based free jazz/noise collective Those Darn Gnomes, and the New Yorker David Brenner, better known as Gridfailure. Uninvited Savior, was released on January 31st by Nefarious Industries, and it offers three epic tracks with a total playing length of more than eighty minutes!!!
Hitting at a time when talk of pathogens, disease, and sickness are at an all time high, Pathogens' Soiled Cogs Forever Grinding EP is extremely timely. Spring is springing, and everyone is talking doom and gloom, so why not have a soundtrack for it? Crushing and suffocating, this EP from Pathogens (A.D. Carter) will crush your spirits and hopes as much as the locked door at your favorite bar during quarantine.
Metal Church is a Californian five-piece band, who during the early-to-mid 1980s helped form & develop more extreme metal sub-genres like Thrash, Speed Metal & Power metal. This three-disc CD set on Cherry Red's metal/ rock sub-label HNE Recordings brings together the band's first three influence & respected albums their 1984 self-titled debut, 1986’s The Dark, and 1989’s Blessing In Disguise.
Here we have a much-deserved reissue of the soundtrack for 1982’s campy sci-fi action film Megaforce. The score is a nicely varied & often fairly memorable mix of formal orchestral score blended with electronics, campy romantic themes, marching dramatics, and generally heroic-to-cheese 1980’s scoring- all making for a highly enjoyable and replayable score. From BSX Records here we have a CD reissue of the score- ltd to just 1000 copies, so if you dig 1980’s sonic sound-tracking- you need to act fast.
Collectress is an all-female quartet that performs a haunting and eerie brand of contemporary classical music, accentuating brooding minor key melodies and generally creating a perfect soundtrack for the mandatory self-isolation many of us find ourselves within at the moment. Different Geographies is their first full length.
Werewolf in A Girl’s Dormitory aka Lycanthropus is a black and white Italian/Austrian horror movie from 1961, directed by Paolo Heusch (The Day the Sky Exploded) from a screenplay by Ernesto Gastaldi, who would go on to script a number of classic gialli and Italian crime films including Sergio Martino’s genre defining masterpieces All the Colours of the Dark and Torso. This new Blu-ray from Severin films features a new print scanned from 2k archival elements discovered in a lab in Rome and is the film’s first outing in this format.
Part melodrama parody- part dark comedy Skeleton Of Mrs. Morales aka El Esqueleto De La Senora Morales is a great example at Mexican cinema at it’s best. This 1960’s film often hits high in best of the countries film list, and it’s easy to see why- as the film features a wonderful well script that moves between wickedly dark humor, pathos & sly digs at the church, it’s classily filmed, and very well acted. From VCI Entertainment here a recent region free Blu ray of the film- which severs up a great print, but sadly no extras.
Released as either vinyl or more recently CD Song Of The Lungfish is the first new material in four or so years from Renaldo and the Loaf- Britain’s finest sonic purveyors of all things avant-pop and (off) world music. The release is a four-track EP, and it finds the pair in fine inspired form severing up a release that dips in & out of bright avant pop, world music, eight-bit like electronica, genre blending, and touches of ritual-to-dark ambience.
Appearing back in 2012 here’s a rather neatly packaged EP from mysterious sonic weirdo Ostrich Von Nipple- the projects been active since around 2006, and I guess it’s best to describe what we have here is an extremely quirky shot of fairly lose Avant pop-rock- with detours into bouncing carnival-like electronics & off-kilter theatricals, all topped with playful demented vocals.
It would be easy to suggest that The Cannon Hill Irregulars were merely a spin-off from The Albion Band and Gryphon, but that would be distinctly unfair on this wonderful collection of musicians. The project was the brainchild of former Albion Band member Anthony Ingle, but also features Graeme Taylor (another Albion Band alumnus and a member of Gryphon), Michael Gregory (The Albion Band) and Jon Davie (Gryphon), to add to the Gryphon contingent Brian Gullard make appearances on several tracks across the album. The album is also notable for the appearance of former Albion Band and Home Service singer/songwriter Bill Caddick, who sadly passed away in 2018.