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Here’s the six Volume in the 'Gruesome' series of release on Germanys' Meat Hook Butchery label. Once again it’s a double CDR package offering up a full CDR of noise from each project, but instead of this been purely walled noise the first disc features dense/ creative harsh noise/ PE, alongside a second CDR of HNW.
The Wushimi Complex are Sebastien Martin-Schultz and Yoshimi Hishida, better known by their recording names Wuso 命 and Yoshimi respectively. Both have previously released music on the Dream Catalogue label with Yoshimi clocking up seven releases over the past four years alone. Both offer a different take on the post-Vaporwave moment via cinematic ambient and industrial influences, so it's not surprising that The Anon Database is something of a "Dreampunk" tour de force.
Hollywood Horror House aka Savage Intruder was originally released in 1975 by Joseph Brunner but was made between 1969 and 1973. It remains the only feature length directorial effort of Donald Wolfe who is better known for his editorial work on a wide variety of films like Tarzan and the Great River, The Phantom Planet, Return to Campus and Storm Over the Pacific.
Futuristic dance music or dance music for an alternate reality? Thomas Köner's Motus breaks down structure, form, and sound to create an intriguing look at what would get bodies moving in a completely different space and time. Part industrial, part soundscape, Motus uses its ample time and space to construct an intriguing look at one possible timeline of disco in an alternative reality.
Oak are a two piece Portuguese Doom metal band bringing together Guilherme Henriques and Pedro Soares, who are also members of black metal band Gaerea. Oak is a relative new project whose debut album Lone I’m reviewing today- it was released at the end of 2019 by the Indian label Transcending Obscurity Records released as a CD and in digital format.
After giving his Avant, playful & at times seared takes on both Brazilian funk, Japanese noise, here with Ethiobraz Norwegian bandleader/ drummer Paal Nilssen-Love returns to give his big-band take on Ethiopian music. And as usual, it’s highly creative-at-times fairly manic jazz bound ride into another musical genre.
I’d Love to Turn You On is a highly worthy, consistent, and genre varied three-CD compilation that digs into the sonic influences on 60’s counter-culture artists such as The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Syd Barret, Frank Zappa, Soft Machine & more. The release appears on El another one of the Cherry Red family of labels.
Today's review is of a new album by Joao Castro Pinto, entitled The No Land Soundscape on Australian label Hemisphärenonkukyo.. The release is 33 minutes of “composed” field recordings (ala Thomas Tilly and Francisco Lopez) and according to the liner notes, is made up of 20+ years of various field recordings from a variety of different locations.
in 2018 Guitarist and oud player Gordon Grdina has created a new quartet called 'The Marrow' for this album Ejdeha, released on Songlines. I'd heard and very much appreciated an album from a previous ensemble of his, "Inroads", in 2017. This project leads toward the Arabic classical end of Grdina's output, with spiralling scalar figures from the oud and string bass, backed by a strong percussion section comprised of tombak, daf, and frame drums.
From Severin’s new wild ‘n’ wacky family film focused sub-label Severin kids here’s The Peanut Butter Solution- a mid-1980’s Canadian oddity that sits somewhere between quirky fantasy and awkward comedy/ drama. This recent(ish) Blu Ray release offers up a new commentary, and a selection of new extras.
Xtro 3: Watch the Skies is campy ‘n’ corny-yet-at times fairly damn gory 1990’s blend of sci-fi, horror, and action. Here from the guys over at Vinegar Syndrome is a recent duel Blu Ray/ DVD release of the film- offering up a new 2k scan & a small selection of extras…and don’t worry if you haven't seen the other two Xtro films, as each is a stand-alone….with only extraterrestrials-terrorizing-humans connecting the three films.
With over thirty years in the game, Ichiro Tsuji's Dissecting Table unleashes another slab of industrial terror with All Things In the Universe. Leaning more on the loose, noise side than his traditional rhythmic industrial, Tsuji's latest is a bit of a departure from the norm, but is as jarringly comfortable as anything he's released. Coming on Steinklang Industries, All Things In the Universe feels like the start of a new direction for Dissecting Table.
Destroyer is a late 1980’s example of the more action & quip bound slasher- featuring a lumbering ‘n’ leering muscle man prisoner back from the dead, terrorizing a film crew who are trying to shot a WIP film in an abandoned jail. It features mountain-sized NFL star Lyle Alzado as the killer, and Anthony Perkins as the films set chewing hammy director. Here on Chezzy Films is a recent no-thrillers/ region-free reissue of the film- and while it is far from the best examples of the slasher genres dying light, there’s enough camp 80’s fun ‘n’ cheese-bound schlock to keep genre fans happy enough.
Original appearing back in the early ’90s Two Evil Eyes brings together two celebrated horror directors- George A. Romero & Dario Argento. It sees each selecting a tale by US Horror writer Edgar Allan Poe - giving them each a then-modern setting, and each director's distinctive twists/visual flare- all making for a largely enjoyable two-hour slice of campy creepiness & ghoulish thrills, with moments of gore & dark humor. On Blue Underground here we a classy & deluxe three-disc reissue of the film- taking in two Blu Rays with a host of new ‘n’ old extras, and the film's soundtrack- with the whole thing topped off with a great 3D lenticular slip sleeve.
Know Your New Age is the latest release from prolific German experimental musician Gȕnter Schlienz, as well as releasing 25 full length releases in his own name over the last 10 years he has also been a key member of experimental post-rock band Navel for over 20 years and has been known to record under various other monikers.
One man bands in the world of extreme heavy music have long ceased been a rarity. And in the genre of black metal they are very common. I think the trend arose after the success of the likes of Burzum. One man bands appear all over the world and Greece is no exception….and that’s where Primeval Mass come from.
So for today’s review, I’ve got a new compilation - Drone Islands - The Lost Maps through dark ambient outfit Eighth Tower Records' The release showcases the latest and spookiest sounds that the label has curated and features some great humdingers.
Destruyendo Una Obra de Arte is a C30/ digital download which brings together to brutally ripping 'n' rattling examples of the walled noise form. It was originally released early 2019 as a digital DL only, but here on Void Singulator Recordings, it gets a physical release.
Stimmenwald is the new dark ambient project from Casper van der Veen, who will be known to wall fans for his bleakly contemplative drone-wall project Uitgeschakeld. Akesis is the projects first ever release, and it comes in the form of a C60/ digital download on Uk's largely walled based label Void Singulator Recordings.
Much has already been said about the history of the Ambient, but I feel a brief excursion into the history of this genre is needed for this release. The starting point for the development of the style is considered to be 1978 ‘s Ambient 1: Music for Airports by British artist Brian Eno. However, I believe that the prerequisites for the emergence of this genre appeared much earlier, in the very late 60s and early 70s of the last century, with the development of electronic music. & experimental classical music genre. Over time, Ambient evolved, mixed with other styles of music and divided into a huge number of sub-genres- from classical ambient and dark ambient, onto light dance styles, and rather complex yet still mood focused electronic works.
This rather nonsensically titled album is a psychedelic-to-surreal journey into ambient sound-scaping, which at moments features the addition of low-key electronics & ritual percussion. The release appears as a CD on Polish label Zoharum- with the nearing seventy-minute release severing up a selection of five mostly lengthy tracks.
Endless Night is a slowly unfurling mystery/thriller, which for much of its runtime plays like a drama romance, save for the fleeting stabs of troubling imagery & very subtle touches of dread. The films a lesser-seen 1970’s British production based on a Agatha Christie novel, and here it’s getting a deserved Blu Ray reissues by the folks at Powerhouse.
Daniel Isn’t Real is a fairly inventive, though often terminal bleak take on the whole secret friend thing. Think a darker & more troubled Donnie Darko, blended with elements of Jacobs Ladder, and grim Clive Barker like fantasy- and you’ll have an idea of what we have here. On Arrow Video this is a recently released Blu Ray of the film- with the company’s usual good selection of extras.
Secret Friends is the 1991 drama written and directed by the near legendary Dennis Potter. Potter was the enfant terrible of the English film/TV industry in the 1970s and 80s, he was best known for the wealth of great TV work in which he was involved, including several well renowned BBC dramas that included Pennies from Heaven, The Singing Detective, and Brimstone and Treacle. Secret Friends was the final directorial piece of his career (and in fact the only feature film that he directed), released only three years before his death in 1994 at the age of 59.