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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.
God damn-it Vinegar Syndrome have done yet it again- uncovered yet another great & distinctive horror obscurity from the past with the release of Hellmaster- a heady, at times gloriously confusing mixture of deranged Doctor horror, weird monster fed stalk 'n' slash action, with flits of action and subtle horror fed trippy-ness. Here we have a region free duel Blu Ray and DVD release of this 1990’s horror picture- featuring two different cuts of the film- both with directors commentary, the usual great VS print, and a neat bunch of other extras.
Originally released in 1975 Welcome Home was the 7th album from London based Afrobeat project Osibisa- it saw the band focuses in more pop/ populous sound that blended African beats/ percussion, funk, R & B and 70’s dance flavors. It also saw the band charting in the UK with one of the albums tracks "Sunshine Day". On Talking Elephant Records here we have a recent CD reissue of the album- taking in digipak presentation of the original bright ‘n’ buoyant jungle-based sleeve artwork.
The Circle Is Unbroken highlights two distinctively different sides of Scottish psychedelic folk/ haphazard genre blenders The Incredible String Band. This two-CD set appeared last year- and features demo sessions from 1967, and a full live show from 1972- with the release shifting between stripped-back creative, and quirky, to decidedly more formulaic and a little tired- so it’s certainly a more 'for fan' type release.
Grey is a 2015 split album between Ukrainian composer Edward Sol and prolific Parisian ambient electronic musician Brume (Christian Renou) that has been released on a rather lovely black/grey splatter vinyl from Sentimental records. Side one features five Brume tracks that have been manipulated and reimagined by Edward Sol, whilst side two see’s Brume repay the compliment by reimagining five Edward Sol tracks
During the 1970s there was a real sea-change in the worldwide horror genre. This saw new and upcoming directors stepping away from gothic styling's of Hammer, Roger Corman's Poe Films, and euro gothic horror- to move towards more modern-day set horrors- with characters often facing very real & brutal encounters. In the USA we, of course, had the likes of Tobe Hopper with Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Wes Caven with Last House Of Left. And back in the Uk, we had directors like Pete Walker & Norman J Warren offering up often gritty, sleazy and brutal takes on the genre, with more often-than-not present-day settings.
Vietnamization stands as one of the more fascinating, engrossing and meaningful noise releases in recent years. The release blends together elements of moody noise-scaping, harsh noise, and PE, with keen & cleverly placed weaves of news footage/samples based around the Vietnam war- all very much focusing on the how the American army both brutalized, maimed & destroyed both the landscape, the counties people, and their own soldiers.
Themed projects are fairly prevalent with-in the noise genre, and especially in the sub-genre of walled noise- as it often focuses in on obsessions- be they sonic, thematic, or literal. One of the longest-running and quirky curio projects of walled noise scene is Hoggle- the Florida based project has been active since 2011- and each and every one of its twelve-plus releases is focused in 1980’s children's fantasy film Labyrinth. The project takes its name from the grumpy and obstinate dwarf who leads earth teen Sarah through the Labyrinth. Here is the most recent release from the project, and it’s a double C81 tape set- that finds Hoggle doing a split & collaboration with Ludo- another recently formed Florida wall noise project, that you guessed it themes it’s work around the Labyrinth too.