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Black Metal, perhaps, is the most popular- yet extreme form of the genre. It has many different subgenres whose roots are in the so-called, Raw Black Metal. At the dawn of the of the form almost all Black Metal bands had such a sound - raw, dirty, unbalanced, close to rehearsal recordings of garage punk bands. Over time, the sound and professionalism of the musicians improved, raising the “underground” bands to a higher level. However, Raw Black Metal has firmly taken its place in the hearts and minds of musicians and fans, forming a fairly large army of supporters around the world.
Coming in at the tail end of the Sexual Revolution, and making quite a statement about the burgeoning panic concerning the society ruining diseases stemming from it, David Cronenberg found fertile ground for his sexually charged brand of body horror. With public interest in this "epidemic" and horror films both at a fevered pitch, the creation of a tax loophole in Canada opened up a perfect channel for filmmakers to get their vision and message out to hungry fans and a terrified public. Starting with his third feature, Shivers, Cronenberg began to play on the conservative public's fears of rampant STDs and how they would tear apart society. He followed this up with 1977's Rabid. In a stroke of brilliance by producer Ivan Reitman, American adult film star Marilyn Chambers was given the lead role. In an early cinematic trolling of outdated mores, having an extremely well known adult film starlet as the lead was a delightful middle finger to an uptight old guard. Add blood, more sex, and Cronenberg's delightfully outré approach, and a winner with the fans becomes a nightmare for the naysayers.
In 1979 one of the most iconic science fiction horror movies of all time was released. A claustrophobic tour de force set aboard the spacecraft the Nostromo that would change both horror and science fiction cinema forever. That film was Ridley Scott’s Alien, a film whose influence and legacy can be felt in every aspect of popular culture from film to advertising and beyond. Memory: The Origins of Alien is a feature-length documentary that takes the analysis of that film and its themes dissect them and rummages around inside until it uncovers chest-bursting levels of interesting information about the film’s genesis and production.
Awirë is an example fleeting ‘n’ darting improv- that’s somewhere between waving-to-sour-drone matter & sprightly modern composition- with flavors of both folk and playful modern classical music about it.
Racines is a five-track album of that sits somewhere between electro-acoustic composition, and subtle scuttling- to-surreal ambient sound-scaping. All creating a decidedly dream-like release- that ebbs, lightly darts and lulling shifts.
In the world of electronic and experimental music, collaboration or split albums of two projects are fairly common. Every day a certain number of such albums are released. Some of them, unfortunately, go unnoticed. Others, sorry for this, do not deserve attention. But there is a category of albums that fans of experimental music should pay close attention to.
Spirit Manifestation is the most recent release from Sihir- one of the more recent projects from uber prolific & multiple projects linked French noise maker Julien Skrobek. The self-released C10 tape offers up two side-long tracks, that sit somewhere between textured noise and dense suffocating ambeince- which all very much fits the releases themes ghosts/ supernatural.
Psykho Genetika was the third release from British industrial project Konstruktivits- initially appearing in 1983 the dense ‘n’ darkly heady album was a mix of grey-unwell space ambience and early more moody Throbbing Gristle like sound making. Think a more active, unwell, and blacked industrial edged take on Tangerine Dreams Zeit- & you’ll get a rough idea of what to expect. Here on the Austrian label klanggalerie is a much deserved recent CD reissue of the album.
Long-running avant-pop/ experimental music collective The Residents are often thought as darkly playful, quirky, and sonically satirical in their musical outlook. But through-out their career they’ve peppered their discography with more dramatically serious, grimly honest, mostly straight and at times troubling albums. One such of these moments is 1988 God in Three Persons- which also stands as one of their most grand, sophisticated, and focused of concept albums. From Cherry Red/MVD Audio here is the next in the 'Preserved Series'- which sees the definitive release of classic Residents album- that feature unreleased/rare bonus tracks and a new re-mastering.
The Graveyard is one of the lesser-seen & lesser-known of the hag horror genre, and it’s also one of the most satisfying and twisted. From Cheezy Moives here we have a bare-bones DVD releases of the film- and while the print is far from great, it’s excellent to see this devilish little film back in print once more.
Robowar is a prime 'n' mighty cheese example of 1980’s Italy- exploitation, at it’s most blatant and overtly. Basically the film is an unashamed mash-up between Predator and Robocop. On Severin here is a double-disc release of the film- bringing together an extras bludging Blu Ray, and a CD of the films soundtrack.
Fabio Orsi is an incredibly prolific electronic drone musician hailing from the Southern Italian city of Taranto, having released up to 40 full length albums either under his own steam or with collaborators including Valerio Cosi, Seaworthy and Flushing Device. Il Vento Disperderà la Schiuma represents his fourth release for Boring Machines.
Appearing in late April of this year- here we have the third release in Damien De Coene’s Mourning Portraits series- that sees this Spanish noise-maker offering up walled noise/ textured noise studies based around funeral portraits from the Victoriana era. This release originally appeared as a self-released tape, or digital download- sadly the tapes are all gone, so ones only option now is a digital download.
Luke Laurila of Telepath and Jornt Elzinga of 猫 シ Corp. (translated as Cat System Corporation) are both artists that have since their first collaboration in 2014, pushed the aesthetic of vaporwave to its natural conclusion and have subsequently been moving off in different, albeit related directions. Laurila has been developing a particularly cinematic form of ambient music, both with his solo releases and as one half of the lauded 'Dream Punk' outfit 2814, alongside David Russo of HKE. While Dutchman Elzinga has continued to refine vaporwave tropes around the intersection between consumer culture, corporate music and altered states; a fine example of which was last year's 家族. 劳动. 쇼핑. (Family. Work. Shop) which was released alongside an 80min VHS of footage Elzinga recorded around shopping malls and other consumer environments.
All Out War sees the return of one of the legends of the walled noise scene Philadelphia based Paul Dever- who is behind projects like the mightly and blackly crushing Griz+zlor, the lunar worshiping militant HNW of Cursed Aether, and the more blacked drone tipped work of Dhusk. For this recent double C90 set sees Paul returning under the banner of Blood Eagle- to sever up four sides of bleakly battering walled matter.
Here we have the third in the series of ‘Gruesome’ releases from Germanys Meat Hook Butchery. And as with the other releases in the series this is a double CDR affair offering up two full-length walled noise release- we have one disc from long-running Quebec based Bleak Existence, and one from German-based Cannibal Ritual- the first disc features two searing-yet-lulling examples of the genre, while the second offer up four shorter, brutal at times fairly experimental takes on wall-making.
Alexandra Spence is an Australian deep listening and avant garde composer who appears to have no other recordings to her name besides this album, Waking, She Heard the Fluttering, released this year in 2019 on Room 40.
Being a fan of experimental or extreme music, sound, or, film was certainly a lot more difficult/time investing before the onset of the internet in the late 1990s, which changed pretty much everything - for better or worse. In those pre net days, the only way to find out about such things was by picking up fanzines, smaller print underground magazines, or wait for the next catalog mail out of your favorite cult mail-order company.
When The Walls Talk is a fifty-five-minute documentary that takes us into the (supposable) very haunted rooms and corridors of Whispers Estate, which is located in the small Indiana town of Mitchell. The film blends together interviews with the houses staff, visitors, and paranormal investigators- as well as creepy photos of spirit activity & investigation footage. It’s certainly one of the more densely packed supernatural docs- and for the most part lets you make up your own mind up about both the evidence and the believability of the interviewees. Here on Shami Media Group here’s a region one DVD of the film.
Of all the films in the serial killer genre, Schramm stands as one of the more grimly heady, disorientating, and surreal. The film takes us into the mind of a middle-aged and balding German sexual serial killer, and his last few days on earth. Here from the folks at Arrow Video UK is a new two-disc set of this mid 90’s film-bringing together on the Blu Ray a high definition print, and a new short semi sequel, and few new extras.The second disc is a CD taking in the films sinisterly drab-yet-unbalancing soundtrack- with the set been topped off with a 60 page book.
Lux and Ivy Dig The Beatniks.. is the next in the series of compilations culled from the basement grates of Lux Interior & Poison Ivy of rockabilly/ garage punk/ Gothabilly band The Cramps. This time as the release's title suggests the focus is on Beatniks- that most coolly swinging ‘n’ groovy of the late 50’s/early 60’s youth movement. The tracks on this double CD forty five-track compilation both parody and celebrate the Beatniks- and I guess it’s fair to say that compared with the other two comps in this series 2018’s Destination Crampsville, and this year The Wild, The Weird and The Wang Dang Doodlin’- there a lot more focus on spoken word, playful skits, and relatively talky song craft.
Of the many lines of flight emanating from out of the Vaporwave moment, the one charting a hyper-dystopian reimagining of the Bladerunner soundworld is bearing much interesting fruit. Sebastien Martin-Schultz' Wuso 命 is one such entity mining the possibilities of post-Vangelis synthscapes. This record - originally released in 2016 on the now defunct Crystaltone imprint - gets the cassette treatment via new Dream Catalogue sub-label Eternal Fortune London.
Baltimore-based, psychedelic/experimental duo Darsombra return with their fifth LP, the self-released Transmission. Built around an experience for the senses, Darsombra's live show has become somewhat legendary, so capturing this in an album is a challenge. Cleverly, the album was released a little more than a week into their extensive tour across the US and Canada, so fans are able to experience Transmission in all its glory. Composed of one album length track, Darsombra's latest is a slowly moving, psychedelic treat for the senses.
Ato Vari's latest release Stele is a real gem of sound art! After the 2017 debut album Brevis, put out by Danish label Posh Isolation, with his mystical second release Louise followed on Holy Geometry in 2018. Now Ato Vari, also known as Mads Gravers Nielsen, returns with his third cassette release Stele on the wonderful Russian label Perfect Aesthetics. Three releases in three years - that means quality instead of quantity! .That alone awakens clear sympathies for me.