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A Viewing Guide To The Pandemic is just over two hundred pages guide to depictions of plague and pandemic, in both Film and television. It blends (largely) concise & honest reviews with often troubling facts/ figures regarding real plagues and pandemics, as well as looking into the background/origin of the fictional side of things too.
Released in 1995, Panzerfaust was the fifth album from Darkthrone. It saw the band returning to their BM roots, with many of the tracks having very clear nods towards the likes of Bathory and Celtic Frost- though still managing to maintain some of their own grimly churning and blackly lo-fi coldness. From Peaceville Records, as part of their series of two-disc CD releases of classic BM albums from the band, this is a reissue of the album. The first disc takes in the original album, and the second disc features a full-length commentary track from songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Feriz.
Transilvanian Hunger was the fourth album from Norway's Darkthrone; and it was also the third and final chapter in the band’s Unholy Trinity, which defined not just Norwegian black metal, but the whole second wave of BM. The eight-track/thirty-nine-minute 1994 album is the very definition of grim ‘n’ freezing BM, and has gone on to probably one of the mimicked/all-out copied albums in BM history- if you don’t know this album, you don’t know the genre!. Here from Peaceville Records, as part of their series of two-disc CD releases of classic BM albums from the band, is a reissue of the album. The first disc takes in the original album, and the second disc features a full-length commentary track from songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Feriz.
Extensive and enigmatic, this massive first collaborative effort from Yorkshire Modular Society & Peter Digby Lee is four pieces of rich, droning ambient totaling over two hours in length. Beneath the Hanging Sky is the product of a chance meeting at the resonance Drone Bath in Todmorden, where the two made a connection through a shared vibration at the space, linking their minds for future work together. While not instant, this collaboration came in the form of vast amounts of samples (recorded and collected by Peter) being reworked and reformed by Dominich Schofield (Yorkshire Modular Society), resulting in the monolithic album coming from Dragon's Eye this month.
Carnal Knowledge is a 1970s US drama regarding the sexual exploits and romantic entanglements of two men, spanning from college to middle age. Surprisingly, it features little or no nudity, but instead focuses on the men’s discussion & their dramatic interaction with their partners. At the film's centre, we have two great leads/performances, with Jack Nicholson as the more sexually experienced/ devious, and Art Garfunkel as the more timid/sexually naïve. Here from Powerhouse, as either a UHD or Blu-ray, taking in a 4k scan, a new commentary, and new/ archive extras.
The Dresser is an early '80s drama/character study set during WW2. It focuses on an ageing, tyrannical, at times unbalanced, theatre actor, and his camp/ always trying to look on the bright side, dresser/assistant, who keeps both the actor and the shows rolling on. Playing the two leads, we have two great actors- Albert Finney as the actor, who is simply known as Sir, and Tom Courtenay as Norman, his dresser. Here from Powerhouse is a new Blu-ray release of the film, featuring a remastered HD and a few extras.
Berlin is such a hotbed of activity for experimental art. Long established as a hub for innovation and rule-breaking, be it in literature, art, music or film, it’s little wonder that so many artists base themselves in this great city, which allows them to create freely and collaboratively. And what better place for a musician who is just beginning to find their foothold, developing their own style, and making their first forays into the music world? Laurén Maria is one such artist. Nominally, a folk artist, Maria is blessed with an incredible voice. A voice that she uses to elevate her chosen genre from something familiar to something totally distinctive. Deftly combining her ‘instrument’ with a carefully selected collection of field recordings, distortion, drone and collage, she accompanies the listener on an unpredictable journey of sound and sensation. This aesthetic was evident on her solo debut, 2023’s Leaves Falling Beyond The Sky, but since then she has undeniably upped her game as on the newly released follow-up, You’re Beautiful.
McCarthyism may have been notorious for ending careers thanks to its ardent blacklisting policy, but Japan was no stranger to excluding its filmmakers, either. Left-leaning politics might see you cast out, a la Tadashi Imai, but so could experimental arthouse filmmaking when it was considered an affront to Japanese moral values. Director Seijun Suzuki found this out the hard way. While working for the Nikkatsu studio, he decided to turn the standard yakuza tropes on their head for 1967’s Branded To Kill, and while now considered his masterpiece, it proved to be the straw that broke the studio’s back. Having grown tired of his seemingly outlandish and wayward filmmaking, they promptly terminated his contract. Furious, Suzuki took them to court - and won. But it led to him being blacklisted for the next decade, most of the seventies, which ironically feels like the ideal time for his innovative, art-led filmmaking. Ten years later, however, Suzuki returned with 1977’s A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness, a socially astute and darkly comedic tale of vapidity, greed, manipulation and golf.
MDS vs Satan features three militantly brutal slabs of HNW, with each being as intense, unrelenting, and set as the other.
In A White Room is a crude’n’crusty slice of perversely themed wall matter from this South Carolina-based project. The just under nineteen-minute release bluntly purrs, clutters, and hacks along.
The Modern Day Crusades serves up two twenty-five-minute slabs of thick ‘n’ grinding walled noise. With each track being as unforgiving and unrelenting as the other.
J.W, Coop is an early 1970s blend of bitter-sweet drama and contemporary western. It regards the titled character, an all-in-denim blue cowboy who gets released after nearly ten years inside, to retake up his rodeo career- the film mixes in road movie elements, as well as fairly extensive real rodeo footage. Here from Imprint is a bare-bones Blu-ray release of the film.
With his punning stage name, New Jersey resident Bill Zebub has achieved cult notoriety for his promotion of independent movies of dubious taste and heavy metal. If you’re a fan of both, this Blu-ray release of his 2014 horror might be a passable hour and a half.
Duchamp is an Italian, Berlin-based solo project of instrumentally sourced drone ambience, from instruments such as organ, synth, voice and baritone guitar. The Wild Joy is a five-track album, about forty-one minutes long, with tracks ranging from five to ten minutes.
From the late 1970s, The Odd Job is a London-set black comedy that evolves into a macabre farce. It features Graham Chapman ( Monty Python) hiring a bumbling amateur hitman, Sir David Jason( Only Fools and Horses, Open All Hours, Frost), to kill him after his wife leaves him, but when she comes back, he won’t stop until his job is completed. Here, from Severin, as part of their series of reissues of films by Hungarian-born British film director Peter Medak, is a Blu-ray release featuring a new scan and a fair few extras.
Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens was Russ Meyers' final film of the 70’s, and his last proper feature, aside from a few bit ’n’ bobs, and his 2001 documentary regarding top-heavy adult actress Pandora Peaks. The film found the large-breast obsessed auteur at his most wacky and structurally darting. It’s a decidedly episodic affair, with a host of characters introduced, and kinky ‘n’ comic set-ups abound. The prime plot line focuses on a working-class everyman who enjoys going in the 'back door', and his partner, who is not too keen, but this is just the tip of the sleazy & satirical iceberg. Here from Severin, as part of their series of reissues of Meyer's filmography, is either a UHD or Blu-ray release of the film, taking in an exceedingly bright/ boyant scan, and a small selection of new & archive extras.
We've all experienced it, some more acutely than others: complete and total exhaustion of effort, impulse, motivation, and reasoning. That this should be the point of departure for an album dedicated to piano dirges with minimal synthesizer accompaniment is a novel concept.
Stop me if you’ve heard this film plot line before- a newly married couple go to an isolated house, to be attacked by some outside force. Yes, this is very heavily trodden ground, which is normally full to the brim with clichés and predictability. The basics of Crumb Catcher follow the above vague plot outline, but boy, does this 2023 film twist, turn, and warp the concept. It’s a blend of thriller, awkward & dark humour, martial drama, tense horror, and satire. Here from Arrow Video, both in the UK and Stateside, is a release of the film, taking in a director's commentary, a making of, previous films by the director, and more
La Terra Trema is a late 1940s film set in a Sicilian fishing village. It blends drama with documentary, with many of the cast played by either nonprofessional actors or real villagers. The picture focuses on the Valastro family, who decide to try and break away from greedy wholesalers, who give them little to nothing for their catch. Here from Radiance Films is a new Blu-ray release of the film, taking in a new 2k print, and a few extras.
The Tale of Oiwa’s Ghost is a 1961 horror/drama from writer/director Tai Kato (The Blossom and The Sword, Genghis Khan and his Mongols and Fighting Tatsu, The Rickshaw Man, he was also second unit director on Kurosawa’s masterpiece, Rashomon, so he has pedigree). The film stars Tomisaburô Wakayama (Lonewolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance, Lonewolf and Cub: Babycart in the Land of Demons and Black Rain), Ayuko Fujishiro (Crazed Fruit, I Am Waiting and Frankie no uchûjin), Jûshirô Konoe (Street of Ronin, Ronin of Ako and Blind Swordswoman: Hellish Skin) and Ushio Akashi (Prince of Space, Shonen tanteidan: Tomei kaijin, and Ultraman Leo).
Twin noise duo Relay For Death has their latest release, Mutual Consuming, hitting vinyl on The Helen Scarsdale agency in just a few days. Originally part of the 2019 cassette box set On Corrosion, the two track album is based on traditional Chinese medicine, the yin and the yang consuming each other, so to speak, to maintain the balance of their continuum. I'm sure as twins growing up together they had a closer analogy at hand, but the yin and yang is far more accessible to the single birthed majority. Slowly growing, oscillating, and ever encompassing, Mutual Consuming's two pieces are brooding soundscapes for a desolate world.
Alone In The World Of Wounds is the seventh solo album from Steve Von Till. It’s an eight-track affair, which blends/melds elements of sombre folk rock, country, ambient prog, forlorn string elements, and glum singer-songwriter tropes.
Thunderball finds The Melvins stripped down to a core of just two members, though they still manage to maintain their heaviness, sonic weight, and distinctive charm. We have King Buzzo on vocals, guitar, bass and production. And the band's original drummer, Mike Dillard, on percussion. It’s a five-track album, which splits itself between shorter/ more punchy tracks and longer, more mind-melting affairs.
Mock is a recent(ish) two-track release from this Cincinnati wall noise project. Each of the around thirty-minute walls has a tautly constricting feel, making for a nicely intense and airless hour-long ride.