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Secta Siniestra is an ultra-obscure and at times extremely brutal & cruel slice of early 1980’s euro horror. It mixes ‘n’ matches together satanic & witchcraft themes, prolonged & intense killings, with euro soapiness, and a fair bit of female flesh. This duel Blu Ray & DVD comes from the guys over at Vinegar Syndrome- and it severs up a new print and a commentary track from cult horror genre expert Kat Ellinger.
Merry Luxmas- It’s Christmas Campsville is the next in the series of compilations culled the basement grates of Lux & Ivy of The Cramps. And as it’s title suggests this time around we are focusing in on the more festive side of things- with the thirty-one track CD moving between Reindeer focused doo-wop, bizarre & grating child-led ditties, stark blues-themed around having no presents & family pet sound led renditions of classic Christmas songs- so it’s certainly another fun, quirky and at times bizarre trip back to ’50s & ’60s.
Sounds of the Project Box is a record born out of a research project based at the Film and Television Studies Department at the University of Warwick; that frazzled edgeland of the humanities which also gave us the Cybernetic Culture Research Unit, the shrapnel of which can still be found drawing blood across the arts and in enclaves of radical politics. The modus operandi of The Projection Project is more antiquarian and sedate than the CCRU's output. Essentially it's a piece of cultural anthropology documenting the behind the scene life of the few 35mm film projectionists left in the UK and the sound-world they inhabit. All lavishly presented with Gruenrekorder's signature levels of care and rigour.
Now here we have a rather splendid double vinyl release of Songs for Swinging Larvae- the first (official) album from Renaldo and the Loaf; Britain’s finest sonic purveyors of all things avant-pop and (off) world music-wise. The album initially appeared back in 1981 on The Residents label Ralph Records- and the original sixteen track album certainly nod towards the eyeballed ones, but it had enough of its own identity, flare and distinct English playfulness-to stand on it's own odd feet.
Esoteric soundscape artist Robin Storey is known for his work first in industrial collective Zoviet France in the 80's and second for his prolific ambient project Rapoon. Here we have Rhiz, a 2002 album that revolves around drum machine beats, toning down the tribal themes present on many of his releases. Zoharum saw fit to give Rhiz a remastered re-issue in 2017.
Dial 45-21-95’ severs up eleven slices of melancholically drifting and bleakly soothing modern classical/ modern composition themed around the work of respected art-house director Krzysztof Kieslowski. The tracks are composed by minimalist sound artist/composer/performer Ryoko Akama, and played with great care & stark wonder by respected contemporary music ensemble the Apartment House.
Puma Court is a two-piece suite for two double basses, and two Hardanger fiddles. It’s a wonderful seesawing example of modern composition that moves between pared-back, felt & at times rising harmonic emotion, Grinding & dramatically soured brood, and moments of tense near silence. The release appears on the always reliable Another Timbre- and the CD is presented in the labels normal sparse & minimal gatefold packaging.
From the early 1970’s The Amazing Mr. Blunden is a charming and heart-warming slice of very English family-focused cinema. It brings together elements of Dickens like period drama, ghosts, time travel fantasy, and some lightly trippy visuals. From Second Sight here we have a new Blu ray reissue of this quirky classic- bringing together a new print of the film, a commentary track, and one or two extras.
The Barn is a wonderfully retro fuelled shot of horror genre fun- it brings together elements of slasher, monster fun, and campy 80’s teen action flick- with the whole been set in & around Halloween. Here from Scream Team Releasing is a recent DVD release of the film- which offers up a commentary track, and a few extras.
American-born-now-Berlin-based artist Danielle De Picctto may be known to some for her planning and implementation of the first Berlin Loveparade with her former friend Dr. Motte. But Since 2006 she has been married to Alexander Hacke of the Einstürzende Neubauten, and both have been sonically active solo as well as an artistic couple. Her newest (solo) album Deliverance is a kind of concept album, and that's what really drew me in.
New to the scene, but already causing a stir, Italy's Clavicvla heads to Cyclic Law for their sophomore release, Sepulchral Blessing. Continuing down the path of dark and thick ambient, this latest slab of murky tones delves deep into the Earth and launches the listener into chthonic catharsis. Grim and low, Sepulchral Blessing slowly churns, boring its way deeper into the core, and lashing out with tendrils to pull listeners closer into its heaving being.
From October last year here’s a two-track album from one of the more original & distinctive figures in experimental sound Howard Stelzer-a Lowell MA-based sound creator whose work blurs the line between drone, noise, electro-acoustic texturing, and field recording.
Tide (for Ten Basses) severs up two extremely dense 'n' bone simmering examples of drone matter. Each of the tracks slides in around the twenty-minute mark, and each is based around the sustained power of ten basses- with the first track focusing in on a gloomy haze, and the second brighter-yet-still dense and pressing drone matter.
VHS Nasty is the third installment of the 'VHS Lives' documentary series from director Tony Newton featuring interviews with his friends and colleagues from the world of low budget film making. The first in the series, simply titled 'VHS Lives: A Shockumentary' featured some well-known figures from the world of underground horror and sleaze with the likes of Nekromantik director Jörg Buttgereit and David DeCoteau who gave the world Creepozoids and Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama both featured.
One of the most known/celebrated names in 1950’s exotica/ early world music is Yma Sumac- the Peruvian singer was a coloratura soprano with both a powerful and varied voice, that could go all the way from low and warming, through to shrill & bird-like singing. Here from El- one of the Cherry Red family of labels is a recent three-CD boxset bringing six classic albums the singer released between 1950 & 1959.
Woodwork is a recent two track album from highly respected, versatile, and devilishly creative guitarist Fred Frith. The release both highlights the scope, depth, and genre blending talents of Frith, as he seemingly effortless moves from darting & jagged improv, chugging and dense heaviness, through to unearthly ambeince, onto almost all out noise, and beyond.
Unmasked Part 25 is part bloody ‘n’ brutal slasher, part genre comedy/ parody, and part off-key/bizarre romance- all making for a very strange cinematic cocktail. Appearing in the last rays of the 80's slasher trend this rare British addition to the genre is certainly a distinct and often highly quirky take of the stalk ‘n’ slash form. From the folks over at Vinegar Syndrome here’s a dual-format Blu Ray & DVD release of this late 1980’s oddity- it severs up the companies always classy new print, and two new commentary tracks with the film's director and writer.
Faces Of Fear is the forth boxset of Hammer films from Powerhouse films. The set severs up four very different cinematic sides of the great British film company- we go from the rewarding-if-typical gothic horror of The Revenge Of Frankenstein, onto still-gothic-though more inventive The Two Faces Of Doctor Jekyll, though to the companies first suspense/ creepy thriller Taste Of Fear, finishing off with the bleak and genre-blending The Damned- which stands as one of the companies more thought-provoking & troubling films. As with all of the past Hammer box sets Powerhouse has gone to town on a real host of new extras, as well as great new prints for each of the four films.
At the beginning of their careers, any band or musician wants their music to be heard. With the development of modern technology and the Internet, this has become a lot easier with the likes of Bandcamp, and similar services. But, at the end of the last century and at the beginning of the present, technology was not as advanced. So attention was paid to physical media. Therefore, novice musicians recorded their demo albums on audiotapes. Cassettes were distributed at underground concerts, ordered through magazines, and copied at home. I think that almost all styles of heavy music went through such a period. But, in my opinion, the most interesting and fascinating of these is the formation of Black Metal as a genre- here we have a recent book looking at the art of the black metal promos through out the years.
With Serus Iranian composer Siavash Amini presents us with his latest work. A sonic arrangement of wonderful, hidden melodies, ambient drones and some subliminal thunderstorms of dark electronica.
One man black metal bands have been a thing since the beginning of the scene, and they show no signs of slowing down. Forming in 2018, Witchbones is Portland, Oregon's newest entry into the one man scene, and his latest album, The Seas of Draugen, comes this month from Iron Bonehead Productions. Capturing the grim, fairly lo-fi darkness that speaks to winters and witchcraft, this quick hitter of an album gets its message across without wasting much time, and here, brevity really is the soul of wit.
Time Without Pity is a 1957 British film noir about a father trying to save his son from execution for the crime of murder directed by American Joseph Losey after he was blacklisted in his home country due to McCarthyism. The film was written by another blacklisted American, Ben Barzman, and is based on the play Someone Waiting by Emlyn Williams.
Chameleon Body is a two-track CD album that dates back to the classic Merz-days of the mid 1990s. Part of the material here has been released official once before, but that was just a nine-minute snippet that appeared on Merzbox- the work here has given a 2019 remastering. The release offers up a seared ‘n’ shifting noise composition that brings together scorching electro texturing, choppy electronics, and forking/baying junk metal elements.
Gruenrekorder are a label with a reputation for bringing truly novel experiences in sound to the listening public and PLEIN AIR: Silva Datum Musica is no exception. It's ostensibly a multidisciplinary project bringing together artists Tim Collins and Reiko Goto with sound programmer Chris Malcolm to create an interface to "initiate an ethical consideration of trees, using sound to focus the attention and the imagination". This approach has been refined to a point where the whole "performance" is centred on a single leaf where sensors measure the rates of photosynthesis, transpiration and other plant biochemical processes. The data from those sensors is then manipulated and transposed by Malcolm into composed sound. The four pieces on side A of this handsomely presented vinyl were recorded live in Glasgow, Scotland and the side-long piece of side B in Cologne.