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Here’s a two way Euro wall-noise split bringing together Dutch project Ratteknaeghen, and Spanish noise-droner Damien De Coene. Both tracks here rather have a constantly spinning roller quality about them- with one focusing in on rapid industrial like wall-ing, and the other on a more moody & churning introspective wall- matter.
Disciplining Eugenie is the fifth full-length release from Stockholm based Gamiani- who creates kinky fetish themed walled noise. The release appeared in Oct last year- coming in the form of a C90, and digital form- offering up two forty four minute slices of ear-searing & brain squeezing HNW.
Machinefabriek hails from Rotterdam in the Netherlands. He is the one-man electro-acoustic ambient musical project of musician, sound designer and graphic artist Rutger Zuydervelt. Short Scenes came into existence as a by-product of a soundtrack that Zuydervelt was working on with violinist Anne Bakker.
Blood Harvest seesaws between 1980’s camp-ness & perverse-often-blood spurted unease. This 1987 picture brings together elements rural thriller, psychosexual slasher, and cheesy romantic drama- with the added unhinge-ness of a latter day Tiny Tim; dressed as a dishevelled cryptic poetry & song spouting clown. From Vinegar Syndrome here’s a doubled-headed Blu Ray & DVD release of the film- offering up a great fully-uncut new 4k print of the picture, a new commentary track, and a selection of interviews from around the time with Mr Tim.
From the early 1990s, Star Time is a decidedly arty, relatively bloodless, though fairly original take on the serial killer genre. Here from Vinegar Syndrome- those intrepid trackers of lost cinematic cult fare is a duel Blu Ray & DVD release of the film- featuring a new director’s commentary, and a handful of other extras.
That Would Have Been Decent is a woozy–to-caustically seared journey into modular synthesizing & avant Sax playing. The six track CD falls in the gaps somewhere between avant jazz, often manic improv, abstract electro texturing, and roasting-to-alien sound-tracking.
Originally appearing in 1995 The Venus Bellona is a true genre-crossing oddity- bringing together highly theatrical & wordy male vocals, campy & densely layered synth- scaping, often moody sound effect layered acoustic guitar focused folk. Dark ritual electronica, dramatic & fantasy fuelled soundtracking, prog-bound Goth rock & death rock, and forays into world music elements. Here we have a CD reissue of the album on Faust- the manly dungeon synth-focused sub-label of Ukraine based noise/ industrial label Old Captain.
In more recent years American project Equitant have been performing a blend of EBM /electro/techno style music. But their first two demo albums, The Circle of Agurak(1993) and The Great Lands of Minas Ithil(1994), represented something close to Dungeon Synth. Behind this project is Raymond Dillard Heflin- former member of the cult black metal band Absu.
Dark Heart severs up a selection of greyly surreal, darkly seared, & at times violent slurred modern composition from Canadian composer & painter Lance Austin Olsen. The CD release appears on the always reliable Sheffield based Another Timbre- who are really the go-to label for creative & channelling modern composition, modern classical music, and improv.
Anne Guthrie is a composer and instrumentalist primarily working with French horn and electronically treated field recordings. Her work has emphasised the liminal spaces between field recording, avant-garde composition and the possibilities opened up by electronic processing. She is also the current managing director of the S.E.M Ensemble in Brooklyn who specialise in performing works by modern American composers such as John Cage and Morton Feldman. Brass Orchids is Guthrie's second record for Ohio's Students of Decay label.
From time-to-time, black metal bands form into communities or “secret orders”. For example, There’s the Inner Black Circle from Norway, or the French Les Legions Noires. There is something similar in Portugal called The Black Circle. This organization includes the black metal bands such as Mons Veneris, Decrepitude, Irae, Rainha Cólera and the band I'm reviewing today Vetala.
This review comes as something of a relief and change of pace as for the first time in a while I have approached the release with no prior knowledge of either the artist or the label. Fergus Kelly's "Local Knowledge" was released on CD by Unfathomless and was their 44th release at the time in September 2017.
Meander is the second album from Tañce Snu (The Dances of a Dream) and was recorded live in Warsaw in September of 2017. It features vocalists and mainstays of the project India Czajkowska and Sebastian Madejski, alongside guitarist Christoph Matyascheck and percussionist Adam Rozenman. The band describe the album as “a musical journey inspired by the sounds of the past, often interwoven with avant-garde sounds of neo-classical improvisation”. An interesting premise and one that certainly has some relevance to the project.
Gordon Grdina is a Canadian jazz guitarist who has been a part of countless ensembles. Inroads is the first album for this particular quartet comprised of guitar, sax/clarinet, keys and drums. It was released in 2017 on the Songlines label, my go-to for sophisticated melodic modern jazz.
120 Pieces Of Sound presents us with two thirty-to-forty-minute examples of moodily sparse- to- dread filled & dark modern compositions from Swiss composer and clarinettist Jürg Frey.The release comes in the form of a CD on Elsewhere Music- the up & coming US modern composition/ modern classical label.
In the past decade or so, many new, synthesizer based genres have spawned, covering pretty much any type of synth music one could want. Usually ending with the postfix "wave," these styles have a fun take on current music and often times a loving nod at the synthesizer music of the late 70's and 80's. Many of these acts find their way onto bills at metal and noise shows, showing the openness of influences and the ability for fans to cross over genres. While a handful of acts have done their version of blending genres (Gost's Possessor, for example), none have been as pure in this mash up as Abstract Void on his latest, Back to Reality.
Berserk! is a late 60’s circus set British murder mystery/ horror flick featuring Hollywood legend Joan Crawford. The film features fairly impressive- if-fleeting murder sequences, a fair bit of cutting & bitchy banter, a lot of overlong circuses performances, and the odd quirky/ bizarre twist like a sudden & un-prompted musical number. Here on Uk Powerhouse Films is a recent Blu Ray presentation of the film- featuring a good selection of interesting & informative extras, and a new 2k print of the film.
Here we have a release that poses, and then answers the question of what can be found in seemingly total silence. The work sees French electronic musician/multidisciplinary artist Julien Bayle recording two hours of silence in 'anechoic' room- then processing it through a Euroack Modular system- to create nine specific length tracks- and the results are both surprisingly varied, creative & often rather noisy.
Scald is a doom metal band that has not been active for over 20 years. The creative period for this project was very short. The band where formed in the Russian city of Yaroslavl in 1993 and ended in 1997. They recorded a rehearsal demo and, in 1997, their only full-length album, Will Of Gods Is A Great Power. A few months after the release of the album, the vocalist Maxim “Agyl” Andrianov tragically died, and Scald ceased to exist.
A year after their last release the somewhat lacklustre Catacomb Resonator. Here’s Eremos- a new full length nine track releases from dark ambient & occult music two piece Arktau Eos- it finds the mysterious Finish duo back on good form offering up a mostly consistent release that moves between & melds sinister retro electronic texturing, gloomy & dread filled ritual music, with brooding ceremonial organ simmers, and fleeting/ eerier field recordings.
Originally released in the early 2000’s Malevolence stands as one of the more effective, though sadly lesser known/ celebrated of modern slasher films. It apt brings together dread-soaked atmospherics, effective & at times jarring stalk ‘n’ slash action, the occasional brutal killing, with a neat rural setting. Here is a recent duel Blu Ray/ DVD release of the film- so let’s hope this helps raise the awareness of this film in horror fans minds.
After a handful of digital releases Bulles Noires is the first physical release from this new French project who sit somewhere between brooding electro-improv, textured noise making & pared-back electronica. The release appears as either self-released 3inch CDR or digital download.
Finnish doom merchants Dark Buddha Rising burst onto the scene eleven years ago with their demo, I. This supremely limited CDr (9 copies) shows the young band firing on all cylinders, ready to unleash their heavy, sparse doom upon the world. Releasing their next three albums on their own label, Post-RBMM, Dark Buddha Rising worked quickly to establish a solid following and get their future releases put out by the likes of Svart and Neurot. Considering their first three were on limited vinyl pressings, getting major distribution is great for the metal community, as their Post-RBMM LPs have become very hard to find. And, thanks to Svart Records, their first three albums, along with their 2007 demo, are now available in a remastered, limited, seven LP box set, The Black Trilogy.
Swans guitarist Norman Westberg steps out of the shadow cast by his former band to release his latest solo opus After Vacation on Room 40 Records. Westberg has been a huge influence on a generation of guitar players having played on the vast majority of Swans releases, enjoying three separate spells with the band, the first from 1983 until 1991 taking inall of their classic early material. He briefly rejoined for the album The Great Annihilator in 1995 and was a key figure in the band’s resurrection in 2010, when Michael Gira reunited the band for a run of rather excellent albums. He stayed until the end appearing on all of the band’s albums that were recorded during that final run.