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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.
Japanese tech death lords, Defiled, are back with their sixth full length (and fourth on Season of Mist), Infinite Regress. Fourteen tracks of pummeling fury, their three year period since their last release, Towards Inevitable Ruin, proved very fruitful. Starting 2020 off on a punishing note, Defiled bring the brutality is a fresh and fast way.
Rowan Forestier-Walker, known as Embla Quickbeam, is a sound and visual artist from Todmorden, West Yorkshire.I 'd never heard of Embla Quickbeam before, and I must say was very positively surprised by this short but rewarding album- which ties together field recordings with subtle instrumental detail Stones That Move And Grow was released last year on CDR, and was limited to 60 copies.
From the tail end of last year, Void Disintegration is a four CDR boxset, which severs up four lengthy submersions in densely searing wall noise from this highly prolific Russian HNW project whose discography runs over five hundred plus items.
Death Veneration by the Finnish black metal band Sargeist was released on Christmas Eve (what’s in a date) last year on W.T.C. Productions. It consists of four songs that were originally intended to appear on various split releases. German label W.T.C. Productions have quite the back catalog, and I remember being impressed by a few albums which found their home there, so I was more than curious to delve into this one. Here. It. Goes.
Surrounded by Ignorance is an hour long example of rewarding textured wall noise from this respected Serbian project. The release appeared back in 2017 as a CDR on Librarion Records, but these are long sold out now- but you can still download it from the projects bandcamp.
This double C60 set drops you down in four lengthy submersions in terminally hopeless drone matter- we have the grim sample dialogue meets low volume starkness of Eugene Critchley, and the at times simmering & subtle blackly bayed glumness of Charles Razeur.
Here’s the latest release from Norfolk Trotter- the Norwich based wall noise project who themes all its releases on natural/elemental forces. And this is pretty much what it’s title suggests- a recording of gravel captured on a record deck full of the stuff- so it’s a decidedly crude, battering & unstoppable example of the wall noise genre.
The Panther Squad is an unashamedly slice of 1980’s euro cheese, which is extremely cheap, camp and at times downright bad. The film is a female-fronted action picture put out by the notorious Paris based exploitation studio Eurocine- featuring cult scream queen Sybil Danning, and Jack Taylor- who turned up in a host of euro trash- such as Pieces, and more than a few Jess Franco productions. Here from Fullmoon Features is a recent Blu Ray reissue of the film- it features a new scan of the film & a commentary track.
2018’s Relaxer is a difficult film to bracket, & it’s also very much of love or late affair too. I guess you could call it maybe a slacker art house film, a mocking parody of our screen-based culture, or a blend of stoner drama, comedy, with later bizarre fantasy/ horror elements- but whatever you call it Relaxer is extremely distinctive, at times inspired picture that really won’t be for everyone. From Anti-Worlds Releasing here’s a recent double-disc release of the film- bringing together a new director's commentary track, and extras- plus the director's second film 2014’s Buzzard (having its UK debut here) with again a good selection of extras.