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Three years after 2016's Eulogies of Putrefaction, Los Angeles' Pestilent Death is back with their follow-up, Chapters of Depravity. Old-school to the core, Pestilent Death bring their riffs, fuzz, and horror movie samples to the masses via Blood Harvest and Rotted Life. Available on CD, vinyl, and, ugh, cassette, Pestilent Death's sophomore effort arrives just in time to darken one's summer days.
Windfell is an example of extremely sparse, episodic, yet at times decidedly haunting-to-oddly playful modern classic composition/ sparse improv for a single violin and fleeting vocal elements. The 2017 piece was penned by up and coming British composer James weeks, and is sonically realized by Canadian Violinists Mira Benjamin. The release comes in the form of a CD on the always dependable Sheffield based label Another Timbre, coming in the labels house style white gatefold packaging.
Kirk Markarian is an American musician, artist, and designer living in Arizona. Since 2010 Kirk has created his experimental electronic music with the help of digital technologies. In 2017, he started Neuro ... No Neuro (NNN), which to date has released eleven releases- the most recent I'm review today
Gruesome Implement is the second in the series of double-wall noise split from German label Meat Hook Butchery. The double CDR offers up two album-length selections of wall craft- which moves from the terminal bleak drone walling of Sloth, onto the shorter & cruder wall attacks of Cannibal Ritual.
Appearing on Mexican noise label Moral Decadence here is a fetish focused wall noise split. The C20/digital release takes in two examples of kinky themed wall matter, with a track apiece from Canadian wall legend The Rita, and Swedish project Gamiani. The release appeared back in February of this year in a physical edition of 100 copies- these have unfortunately have all gone now, so ones only option (other than hoping for a discog sale) is a digital download.
Originally released in 1977, The Uncanny is a portmanteau in the style of the Amicus classics Tales from the Crypt and Vault of Horror. In addition to those similarities the film was co-produced by Amicus supremo Milton Subotsky in conjunction with The Rank Organisation and Astral Films (Canada). The film was directed by Claude Héroux and starred an excellent ensemble cast including horror stalwarts Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasance alongside Ray Milland. For those who love their classic 1970s and 80s horror it is also worth noting that the cinematography comes courtesy of The Wicker Man’s Harry Waxman, and the screenplay was written by Michel Parry who would go on to write the underground classic Xtro.
Øyvind Torvund is a Norwegian composer and guitarist, with sparse recordings to his name since 2003. His latest recording for Hubro is titled The Exotica Album. As far as I can tell, his guitar does not appear on the album, the album being instead an outlet for Torvund's composition and orchestration.
Here we have the first-ever release of the full soundtrack of the classic 1980’s Canadian slasher film Prom Night. This recent thirty four track CD release brings together both the original score, and the films often disco focused songs- but on top of this, you get a selection of both un-used score cues, and un-used disco tunes for the film. All making this release on Perseverance Records the ultimate and definitive release of the film's soundtrack.
With a film title like Stranger In the House, you’d be expecting maybe a home invasion thriller, or proto-slasher. But instead, it’s a little-seen British film from the 1960s, which blends together swinging 60’s teen drama and murder mystery plotting- with themes of age, addiction, and loss. As part of BFI’s Flipside series here’s a dual-format Blu Ray/ DVD release of the film- featuring a new High Definition print, commentary track, and some choice extra relating to films southern English setting, and the swinging 60's.
Appearing in the late 1970s, around the last gasps of British horror genre, The Legacy is a lesser-known addition to the genre. It’s a moody-if-slightly plodding occult tinged thriller/light horror film, that features some rather daft moments & deaths. From Powerhouse films here we have a recent Blu Ray release of the film- offering up both English & American cuts of the film, a new commentary track, and a few other extras.
Putney Swope is considered something of a lost classic of the 60s counterculture. Robert Downey Snr’s film has just arrived on Bluray for the first time in its history from cult American DVD/Bluray distributor Vinegar Syndrome, and what an awesome package they have put together for this forgot classic. The Bluray print is taken from the recently struck 4k restoration that was undertaken by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and The Film Foundation, with funding from the George Lucas estate. Putney Swope is a satirical look at the issues that were affecting America in 1969, racial tensions, political unrest and pop culture all combine in a social commentary that is very much of its time, but still manages to offer a reminder to modern society on the pitfalls we need to avoid in the 21st century.
Talented producer, engineer, composer, and member of Triple Sun, David Chalmin had yet to have his music as a solo act released. Thankfully, Ici d'ailleurs saw this hole in his repertoire, and came to the rescue with the release of La Terre Invisible. A wondrous mix of dance and ambient, Chalmin's solo debut is an eye opening electronic composition that moves, dodges, and defies categorization. Is it a soundtrack? Is it IDM? Is it future/retro/whatever wave? It doesn't matter, because it's smooth, lush, and supremely enjoyable.
Accord Ouvert is the debut album from Belgium based elector-acoustic/ acousmatic/ musique concrete Composer Sophie Delafontaine. The CD album/digital download servers up six tracks that dart between mysteriously unsettling, playful & bizarre, and inventive & daring- all to create a real sonic roller-coaster ride of a release.
Lettres et Replis is a piano-based album that shifts between elegant harmonics and often discordant angularity. The release comes in the form of the six-track album- that’s available as either a mini gatefold packaged CD( ltd to 500 copies), or a digital download- both can be purchased from Elsewhere’s website.
The Other World is the first release from Sihir- a new project from highly prolific & multiple projects linked French noise maker Julien Skrobek. The release is presented in the form of a C20, which Julien self released himself- it takes in two side-long tracks, and the best description of what we have here is minimal/ stark noise with elements of lo-fi ambience. So really somewhat of a departure from the more wall/ static noise sound Mr Skrobek is known for- through there are still some textured noise elements present here.
Collaboration albums in the genre of experimental music have always been interesting proposition, as the blend between different sonic approaches-often create a distinctive one-off sound. Even though Dark Ambient, as a genre, is widespread and a huge number of projects work in this style, there are a certain number of the most respected artists whose work always deserve the close attention from fans of this genre. The Russian project Bardoseneticcube, working at the junction of Dark Ambient and Industrial, headed by Igor Potsukaylo, is one of such respected projects.
Lighting Strike Scars is a lengthy submersion in thick, whipping & battering storm like walled noise from this Portland, Oregon project. The release, a pro pressed CDR or digital download, appeared in April on UK wall label Void Singularity Recordings- it came in an edition of ten copies, and as of writing the label still, have copies which can be purchased from the labels Bandcamp.
White Slave is a cheesy, but surprisingly engaging, and at times damn bloody ‘n’ brutal jungle adventure from the mid-1980s. Here we have a recent(ish) region free DVD release of the film as part of Full Moons Grindhouse series.
Following on from early Arrow Video releases this year, Double Face is another lesser-known, largely bloodless & more moody Giallo film reissued by the company. The Blu Ray features a new commentary track from genre expert Tim Lucas, some neat extras, and a new well-defined print.
The recent announcement that Roger Doyle is to receive the honor of Saoi, the highest award open to an Irish artist, is recognition of a lifetime of musical creativity encompassing theatre, "cinema for the ear", the massive electro-acoustic project Babel, and most recently the electronic Opera Heresy, on the life and death by fire of the renaissance philosopher Giordano Bruno. In between these signal achievements Doyle has also put out a steady stream of records developing the possibilities of combining acoustic and software instruments, electronic processing and the human voice. He has retained a fascination for language (musical or otherwise), a facet of his work most expansively realised in the 5CD Babel project.
For a period of time in the late 1980’s my twin musical obsessions where Hard Core Punk( mainly American), and Thrash- so, of course, I had a great interest in where these two genres met- Crossover. Here from Cherry Red Books is a new, nearing five hundred and fifty- page book on the subject- and it certainly was a fascinating trip down memory line, with more than a revelations along the - as the book covers a lot of acts I’d never even heard of.
I believe, that experimental avant-garde and improvisational music appeared a long time ago- Maybe a couple of hundred years ago. But the key developments occurred with the introduction of jazz, musique concrete, and experimental electronics, around the middle of the 20th century. Currently, there are a lot of bands and artists, to one degree or another, using these styles in their work.
Despite being on the scene and appearing on compilations as far back as 1999, Decadimento Del Nastro - Decadenza Di Tutto is the first album by Tape Dekay (BJ Nilsen of Hazard and Morthound). Noisy soundscapes riddled with musique concrete, Decadimento is a dark, sprawling full length available on CD and digital formats. Hopefully a harbinger of further releases, Tape Dekay's first album is much anticipated and certainly delivers.
The Passing is a dizzying, often disorienting, wholly idiosyncratic Sci-fi film that randomly darts between whimsical & felt, sad & morose, 1980’s technology headiness, and trippy-to-horror fed surrealism. Original appearing in the first few years of the 80’s- this distinctive & effecting oddity has been un-earthed by Vinegar Syndrome- been given a new 2k scan, offering up a new commentary track, shorts by the same director & more.