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Now here’s an occasion where you certainly can’t judge a release by its cover- as this CD’s line drawn artwork of a boat on river suggests either folk or lulling ambience- but the sonic reality of the two nearing half an hour tracks within is battering ‘n’ brutal industrial tipped walled noise.
Classic Floridian Jazz fusion metal band Cynic is one of my all time favorite groups. Though it seems they have ceased creating new material, in 2019, they've seen fit to release this redux version of their first reunion album, 2008's Traced in Air, entitled Traced in Air Remixed, though really a more accurate name would be Traced in Air Remastered by Periphery's Adam "Nolly" Getgood.
This is a really fun little thing Gruenrekorder have put out. It's ostensibly a project branching out from a website created by Achim Zepezauer which replicates an old One Arm Bandit slot machine, but instead of displaying fruit it plays an overlaid combination of three 45 second audio fragments from artists ranging from Jaap Blonk to John Chantler and Zepezauer himself. This 10" vinyl release - neatly presented with cute crayon artwork collects 30 of the possible combinations spat out by the slot machine, each with a title constructed in a similarly random way.
The Dead Center is a stark & chillingly scoped blend of medical drama and lo-key horror. And while this 2018 film is certainly well filmed, largely well-acted, intelligently convinced, and has moments of fleeting creepy-I unfortunately found it a little low-key and plodding for its own good- which is a pity as the trailer looked promising, and normally Arrow Video are very dependable with the modern independent films they release
Released back in 1986 as a cassette release Sorry For Laughing- under the original title of Jesus Wept- is a decidedly wonky & off-centre blend of post-punk, lo-if modern classical & 1980’s instrumental mood music. From the guys over at klanggalerie here is a much needed first every reissue of this mid-1980’s sonic oddity- which really doesn’t sound like much else.
From Dread Central here’s a region free Blu ray release of two the more recent original & classy found footage films. we have #Screamers which starts off as a corporate mockumentary but slowly shifts into chilling missing person/ killer film with a Jack The Ripper twist. And The Monster Project that pretty much does what it says on the tin- so we get a group of filmmakers advertising for monsters, and they land up with more trouble than expected. Both films feature a good selection of extras, all making this Blu Ray appealing to fans old & new of the found footage genre.
Ekkert Nafn finds two respected Spanish sound artists utilizing & manipulating the same selection of sound materials- taking in field recordings & electrical/ mechanical devices- to create two thirty-minute tracks, which highlight both parties distinct way of sound-working.The artists are here Francisco López- a Madrid sound artists/ field recordist who’s been active since the mid-1980s, creating a large & distinctive body of work. And Miguel A. García- A Bilbao based artists who has been active since 2008, but has equally built up a large body of work that blurs the line between electro-acoustic composition and improvisation.
There are a lot of projects working within the experimental music genre of Ambient/Drone. Every day new projects appear, other projects cease their activity ... it seems that artists choose this style of music as a way to express themselves and realize their desire to create atmospheric sound. Most drone/ambient projects are normal solo ventures. However, the American project Empathy Family is a duo of- Drew Collins and Jack Williams. Unfortunately, there’s little information about either artist, but I know that Jack Williams is pretty well known in the world of Noise and Power Electronics.
Wrestling and horror have seemed to go hand in hand since the explosion of the WWF in the early 80's, and the overblown acting and story lines are wonderful partners in crime. As world collided, Brick Bronsky began to be a staple in Troma films, and soon ventured out into an independent project, The Masked Mutilator. Shot in 1994, but unfinished, this tale of wrestling, troubled youth, and murder was recently finished with modern book ends and finally released. Released by Severin's Intervision imprint, The Masked Mutilator has finally entered the squared circle to fight for it's much awaited viewership.
Music To Scare Your Neighbours is the fourth in the series of compilations culled from the basement grates of Lux & Lvy of The Cramps. The two-CD release brings together in all fifty tracks, and most/ many of these are obscure 45’s from the 1950s and 1960s, and as with all this series the comp is themed- and this time fittingly for the time of year and all its horror & Halloween themed.
Air brings together two respected & key figures of the more moody/ drone fed side of European experimental music. Asmus Tietchens is a Hamburg-based acoustician and experimental electronic composer who has been active since the 1970’s carving out his distinctive sound, and Dirk Serries is Belgium based guitarist & ambient composer who might be better known to many as Vidna Obmana- which started off in the early 80’s as post industrial project, before moving into more ambient terroirty to become one of the most respected euro names in the ambient/ drone genre.
Leaving Meaning is the fifteenth studio album by American alternative legends Swans. The version I shall be reviewing is the longer CD version that runs at over 93 minutes. This version features extended mixes of several songs and an additional track “Some New Things”. It is probably worth noting that the vinyl release runs about ten minutes shorter at around 83 minutes. Having funded the making of Leaving Meaning via the DIY release What Is This? Swans leader Michael Gira was allowed the freedom to record the album he wanted to make without any compromises, and you can really tell with this sprawling work of emotional genius.
Here we have Volume I from Canadian BM-solo-project Flešš. You could just label this project as old-fashioned & very raw lo-fi Black Metal, but this simple description wouldn’t do the project justice!. Hailing from the depths of the Canadian forests, Flešš’s work moves from very raw punky influences, over to doomy structures, through to depressive or ambient-like sound-texturing.
"Isn't it strange how times change / I can't imagine living any other way" - Praying to the Aliens, 1979. And, after forty years and many changes, Gary Numan is still living the same way. Granted, the lyrics don't refer to his musical career, but it is fitting nonetheless. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Tubeway Army's seminal Replicas album, Beggars Banquet has released a double album of early recordings and outtakes from the recording session. Although a number of these tracks have appeared on various releases over the years, having them all in one package is great for Numanoids everywhere.
Here we have a C80/digital download walled noise split themed around a short story by Michael Gira. The release brings together two lengthy slices of dense, pummelling, and at times subtly shifting wall matter.
Close Calls is a 2017 US horror-thriller that blends taut home-alone stalker with trippy ‘n’ supernatural Giallo- with a good dose of leering sleaze, and a nicely twisting ‘n’ turning plot- that keeps you wondering what is real & what is not. Here on Scream Team Releasing is a recent region free DVD of the film, which features a director/ writer commentary track.
Skinner is a seemingly once thought lost early 1990’s serial killer film- featuring mock-arty edges, some grisly if a little rubbery gore, and acting that moves between underplayed-to-downright hammy. I’m most certainly the target audience for the film, as I’m a huge fan of serial killer films- but I’m afraid much of Skinner left me feeling either frustrated, bored, or jaded by the very 90’s music & feel. Here from 101 Films- as either a Blu Ray or DVD, is a recent reissue of the film.
Scales of Justice is a C90/ digital download release from Serbian wall noise project Dosis Letalis- offered up here are two forty five minute examples of densely weaved, yet subtle creative and entrancing.
Just in time for Halloween, Lamech Records and Amor Fati Productions bring us a prime slice Gothic blacked Horror Metal in the form of Revenant In A Phantom World- the new full length album from Stockholm one-man project Die Kunst der Finsternis.
Goblin finally split in 1982 after recording the soundtrack for Argento’s giallo classic Tenebre under their individual names. Simonetti would continue to work, soundtracking Italian horror movies in the aftermath of the band’s dissolution. He would go on to score Conquest for Lucio Fulci, New Barbarians for Enzo Castellari and Phenomena for Argento before agreeing to write the score for the Dario Argento produced Demons, directed by Lamberto Bava, the son of Italian horror legend Mario Bava.
Following on from the likes of Evil Town, The House On Tombstone Hill, and Beyond Evil- here’s another slice of nutzoid & tacky effect lined 1980’s horror from the folks at Vinegar Syndrome. The Vineyard is a fevered mind mix of mad doctor horror, oriental voodoo killings, zombies, kung fu fighting, soft-focused T & A, and a shed load of 80’s camp. Here’s a dual-format reissue of the film- bringing together the normal great VS new print & a few extras.
The Method Is The Madness appeared back in May of 2017 and was a five CDR box set from this prolific and often creative French walled noise project. The sets main theme/ influence is photographer Lauren Simonetti- who creates very eerier & darkly unsettling photo work- each CDR comes in their own DVD sized case, and these come inside a white card box. The cases & the box takes in examples of Ms. Simonetti photo work- with the ‘walls’ nicely fitting the photo work as it’s often brooding, lo-fi, and unsettling creative in its feel.
From Cherry Red sublabel El Here’s a three-CD box set that brings together 60’s pop producer Joe Meek infamous electronic space adventure concept album I Hear A New World, and a good cross selection of pioneering electronic music from the 1950s & 1960s.
Famed composer Laurie Anderson has enlisted collaborators Tenzin Choegyal (a Tibetan traditional musician), Jesse Paris Smith (piano) and Rubin Kodheli (cello) to create a new work in 2019, titled Songs From the Bardo. It is an album of instrumental ambience and explicit Buddhist subject matter, driven by Anderson's spoken narration from the Tibetan Book of the Dead.