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Trumpet player, keyboardist, composer and bandleader Simon Millerd has released a lush masterpiece of an album, "Lessons and Fairytales", on Songlines, a label which has proven a haven for artfully crafted melodic modern jazz. Nearly all of my recent favorite works of jazz come from the Songlines catalogue, from Michael Blake's "In the Grand Scheme of Things" to the Bruno Heinen Sextet's reinterpretation of Karlheinz Stockhausen's "Tierkreis".
Following on from the recent Blu Ray reissue of Antropophagus on Severin, here’s Absurd- the second 1980’s horror film collaboration between director Joe D'Amato, and George Eastman( aka Italian actor Luigi Monterflori). Originally released in 1981- the film is a gored-up Halloween rip-off, blending in once again elements of classic horror, with 80’s euro campiness. Here we have the double-disc reissue of the film- taking in a Blu Ray, and soundtrack CD
Zombie 4 appeared at the end of the 1980’s- offering up a more action-focused take on the Italian zombie cycle. Here from Severin is the double disc CD soundtrack & Blu Ray release of the film.
Here we have a recent CD reissue of the first two albums from reggae legend & dub innovator Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry. The Upsetter is from 1969, and Scratch- The Upsetter Again is from 1970. Both albums show the seeds of Perry’s later highly creative production skills, and each album is a good example of mainly mellow & playful proto-dub.
Hungarian experimental sounds are rather sparingly represented in the worldwide music scene. Necrotik Fissure is perhaps the most famous Hungarian project in the Harsh noise /Harsh Noise Wall genre. It was founded by Daniel K in 2012, but after releasing four albums and a split with French iconic HNW project Vomir, Necrotik Fissure was silent for 4 years. But, in 2016, the project resumed its activities and became one of the most productive HNW projects in recent years. It is also worth noting that Daniel K has a fairly large number of other projects, the most famous of which, in addition to the Necrotik Fissure, is Halalnihil. Also, Daniel is the founder of the fairly successful DIY label The Level Of Vulnerability, which has released an large number of albums from all of his projects, as well as many famous and talented projects working in styles of extremely experimental music.
'Communion Is A Sacred Word' is the debut release from 'Red Cliffs', a collaborative project between labelhead Jan Warnke and Thorsten Soltau, which comes as a c30 in a light blue shell, with a multi-panel translucent artwork.
Soundscapes, like landscapes, can range from sparse and minimal, to dense, heavy, and jarring. Italian sound artist Attilio Novellino understands this wide range, and applies many different approaches to his creations to produce thoughtful, evocative sonic landscapes. This is no different on his latest, A Conscious Effort from Midiria Records, and fans of well constructed atmospheres would do well picking up this limited release.
The Space Inside is a two-track album from renowned Australian percussionist Vanessa Tomlinson. The release comes in the form of either a C30 cassette or digital download- and each of the fifteen-minute tracks here highlights the different sides to Tomlinson talents.
The Tree Of Life And Death originally appeared back in 2008- as a double CD collection of fairly varied ambient soundworlds from Swedish project Coph Nia- who blend & merge together dark sometimes ritual tipped ambience, post-industrial moodscapes, and neoclassical elements. Here on Old Captain is a recent reissue of the release on Old Captain- which offers up the original two discs, with a third disc of unreleased material.
Self-titled debut album of sorts from Italian progressive rock band Hollowscene. Whilst this might be their debut under this name the band have existed since 1990 under the moniker, Banaau.
Last Man in Europe is the 16th album from this British avant jazz three-piece. The CD album brings together eleven examples of searing–to-wonderfully angular jazz- that moves from forceful & jarring, onto soured & slurred, through to twitching & nervy.
Coming fairly soon after volumes three & four of Earth’s Hum Series, here ’s the fifth volume in the sequence of seemingly unending releases from this Michigan based wall noise project. This time we get a CDR release on Frances Require Rate Of Return Records- this takes in a single thirty-minute slice of searing-through- vaguely harmonic tinged wall matter.
Released in 1988 Deadbeat At Dawn is a blistering, often grimy gut-punch of a film, that brings together action & gang war genres, with often prolonged & splatter bound violence. Here from Arrow (both in the US & UK) we get an extra bulging new release of this brutal late 80’s classic.
The Soundboard Tape presents us with the first ever live recording from this Swedish walled noise project. The C36 tape takes in the same track on each side- this was taken from the soundboard recording made on May 3rd 2018, when Rien played Les Instants Chavirés- the respected noise/ experimental venue near Paris.
Diamonds Of Kilimandjaro is one rarer early 1980’s films from Jess Franco. And it finds the king of Euro exploitation giving a decidedly haphazard & often wonky stab at the jungle-based action-adventure genre, which had been made popular by the likes Raiders Of The Lost Ark. Here on MVD classics is a region free Blu Ray of the film, and I believe this is the first time it has been released in a digital form.
From 1970 Horror Of The Blood Monster is an extremely cheap & at times puzzling mix of vampire, caveman, and cheap monster genres. It’s one of the notorious mash-up projects from director/producer/screenwriter Al Adamson, which saw him attempting to blend together several different film elements in an often lopsided & unpredictable manner. Here from Cheezy Films is a region one DVD of the film.
Here’s a transatlantic wall noise split themed around brooding & starkly surreal 1960’s horror film Carnival Of Souls. The C60 tape brings together US project La Crosse, Wisconsin based Burial Ground, and Serbian project Dosis Letalis.
IMI is this Oslo based experimental electronic rock band’s third full length album release. Mixing a variety of different musical styles from hip hop and disco to rock, industrial and krautrock, Moon Relay a pioneering an Avant Garde groove all their own, one that intersects such a wide variety of styles and genres with ease.
Cold Spring has a prodigious history of documenting the most exemplary gloom and doom that outsider music has to offer. “Charnel Transmissions” is another bleak offering to carry on that tradition. For the uninitiated, Tunnels Of Âh is the solo project of one Stephen R. Burroughs, formerly with the proto industrial unit, Head of David. “Charnel Transmissions”, available in CD and digital formats, is Tunnels Of Âh's fourth full length album.
Polish artist Zdzisùaw Beksiñski influenced many with his dystopian, surrealist works. Focusing on decay, death, and darkness, Beksiñski's art evokes a chilling vision of a cold, uncaring future. While his works have influenced many varied forms, the synaesthetic reaction via sound offers up a profound darkness that Beksiñski himself would have cherished.
They’re Coming to Get you, Barbara, is of course, one of the iconic lines from genre-defining zombie classic Night Of The Living Dead. And here from Connecticut based Nightmare Park is a twenty minute wall noise tribute to the film- which sees the project offering up a single twenty minute shot of dense, unforgiving static battering.
Untitled is the second release from this Florida based wall noise project. It comes in the form of a double three inch CDR package, which presents up to the listener two twenty minute examples of HNW sonic barbarism.
Scandinavia. It was here, in the early 90s, that young musicians gave a start to the most massive, extreme and at times darkly melodic style of heavy music, Black metal. Within a short time, this style found fans all over the world, with pioneers of the genre forming cult bands. As time went. Some bands, due to circumstances, have ceased to exist. Others moved away from the original style. Someone began to play a more complex, almost progressive type of black metal, some switched to playing a more commercial take on the genre... But, from time to time, bands appear that take the very uncompromising northern version of black metal as the basis of their work.
P.O.P. (Psychology of Perception) is a 4 piece experimental band who use the traditional acoustic timbres of piano, bass, french horn and violincello in an unconventional manner. "Ikebana" is my only exposure to any of the musicians involved.