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Topdown Dialectic's self titled LP (not to be confused with their several self titled cassettes) is washed out, heavily processed ambient dub music in the rhythm has been blurred and delayed into a faded, sun-bleached swirl. It exists fluidly between the realms of dance music, chillout electronic and ambient listening music. In this way it resembles the work of Vladislav Delay, but has less in the way of broken beats, and more comfortable empty space.
This first Vol of the Racy Reels Series from cult exploitation label Something Weird brings together three slices of obscure sexploitation from the 70’s- all with a distinctive Sci-fi flavour. The release comes in the form of a dual format (all region) Blu Ray & DVD set, which features a glossy eight-page booklet with a new write-up about the films.
Two2 is one of forty-eight number based pieces John Cage composed before his death in 1992. The works for two pianos and was inspired by a statement by Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina: “There is an inner clock.”- meaning that the work has an adjustable duration- with a playing time anywhere between forty minutes, and two & half hours. This recent double CD release on the always consistent Another Timbre- comes in at just over two hours, and if like me you enjoy sparse & skeletal based modern composition, you’ll find it most worthy.
The Case Of The Scorpion’s Tail was the second giallo from respected journey-man director Sergio Martino. It appeared in 1971 between two of his more known & revered Giallo’s The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh & All The Colours Of The Night. Here from Arrow Video we get a new Blu Ray release of the disc, and while film lacks a true punch of originality- it’s a well made, often suspenseful & effectively twist-laden addition to the genre
Aussie death fiends, Vomitor, return after a five year gap with their fourth LP, Pestilent Death. Not ones to rest on their laurels, these rockers have been touring the world and honing their craft for fans all over. Quick but fierce, Pestilent Death clocks in at just over one half hour of fun, old-school death frenzy.
Vampyres is a new(ish) project from renowned UK drone maker Lee Stokoe- whose been creating work under the banner of Culver since the mid 90’s. This new project sees Stokoe joined by Martyn James Reid( of Depletion)- and the sound on this C48 tape is somewhere between drone, murky dark-ambeince, and lo-fi choppy electro effect scaping
Compensation Culture is a haphazard 'n' ramshackled sonic spew-up of cluttering & roasting junk noise, offensive & aggressive dialogue samples, random pop culture/advert snippets and sudden gabbling vocal rants- all mainly centred on angered & dissatisfied side of British culture.
After the more pared-back, melancholic and often piano dominate the sound of his last two releases-2016’s Vestiges, and 2017's Lift A Feather To The Flood with Markus Reuter. The Biode sees this US ambient legend returning to more varied waters. With the ten track album moving from organically choppy & alien glitching like electronica, onto beat bound ethnic ambient moodiness, through to more moody & darkly building blend of ambience.
Urarv are the brainchild of avant-garde metal vocalist/guitarist Björn Aldrahn Dencker of Thorns and The Deathtrip fame. The band were originally formed in 2003, however it would take another 13 years before their demo CD appeared in 2016 and 14 years before they released their debut album Aurum in 2017. The band’s current lineup have been active since 2013 when Aldrahn was joined by Sturt on bass and Trish on drums. This latest release Argentum was recorded during the same sessions as last year’s Aurum.
A free-jazz group who've collaborated in the past with the likes of Mats Gustafsson and Eugene Chadbourne as well as producing some mightily heavy Boris-style sludge rock, might not seem likely collaborators with Current 93's David Tibet. Nevertheless House of Mythology follow up their 2016 Tibet collaboration with Killing Joke's Youth with this striking hybrid which they've appropriately named Zu93. Mirror Emperor is the latest instalment of what looks like a bumper year for the mystagog of Hastings. This record follows closely on from the rather lacklustre The Stars on Their Horsies which is to serve as a warm-up for a new C93 album due out in October on the day the band play London alongside old mates Nurse With Wound.
Ramshead offers up a selection of dense, slowly morphing, and often thickly weaved sound-art built around manipulated field recordings made in Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales Australia. The release appears as the form of an Ltd CD( of 200 hand number copies)- on Unfathomless- it’s presented in a double sided color sleeve packaging- which features linear note card, slip sleeve, and outer clear plastic sleeve.
Here we have a long-lost collab between two of the more distinctive & unique figures from within the wider experimental genre. Fred Frith first became known in the 70’s for his work with celebrated avant-rock collective Henry Cow, before going onto work with the likes of Brian Eno, John Zorn, Bill Laswell, and many others. Hardy Fox was one of the key songwriters behind long-running avant-pop collective The Residents- working with the band for 40 plus years, before leaving the project in 2015 due to ill health.
In the early 1980’s, as the British film industry was floundering-near-dead along came Xtro. A decidedly quirky at times surreal 'n' gory horror/ Sci-Fi film that featured an impressive enough budget, good acting talent, and some truly bonker ideas. Here on Second Sight, we have a new, & pretty much definitive reissue of the film- featuring a Blu Ray presentation of the film with a big bag of extras, the films CD soundtrack, and a perfectly bound booklet.
1996’s Black Light District- A Thousand Lights In A Darkened Room has always stood as one of the most mind-altering, yet still relatively approachable releases in the Coil canon. With its largely instrumental blend of queasy ambience, darkly psychedelic-yet- often memorable electronica, off-kilter -yet slowly head-bobbing beats, and weaves of disorientating sampling.
"The Bleakness" is a relatively new release from the well-known HNW project Placenta Lyposuction, released on CDr by Void Singularity Recordings. The label was newly established in February 2018 by label head Tom Rushton, who was also responsible for the prior Synesthetic Perception Recordings and the project E.E.E.E. among others.
Psi-Fi was the second & final album from Seventh Wave- the UK pop-prog/ genre-gentric project centered around Keyboard player/ singer Ken Elliot, and percussionist Kieran O'Connor. Originally released in 1975, the album saw the project adding in early & often showy synthpop/ new- wave edges to the bands often buoyant & tuneful prog sound. Here on Esoteric Records- Cherry Reds prog-focused sub-label we get a recent remastered & expanded CD of the album.
The Endless is another recent addition to the more dread & atmosphere soaked post-horror-genre. The films a heady-yet at time starkly moody blend of horror & sci-fi- that finds two brothers returning the isolated cult they used to be part of as teens. Here from Arrow video is a DVD or Blu Ray release of the 2017 film, and as we’ve come to expect from the label- we get a good selection of extras.
Occulta ReligiO is the seventh full length album from Italian black metal band Abhor. The band were formed in Northern Italy in 1995 releasing their first demo tape In Tuo Honori Preparatum in 1998, this signified the beginning of a long and varied career working with a variety of different labels. The band have even included the recording of a couple of covers from legendary countrymen Goblin (Non Ho Sonno and Deep Red) on their Vocat Spiritum Morti album. A deep connection with all things esoteric has informed their musical output and this is certainly the case with Occulta ReligiO.
Discrepant presents Soundscape China/Destruction of Chinese Pop Songs by KINK GONG (recording as Dian Long). Available as a 2xLP or digital download, this album collects Soundscape China (previously released on Kwanyin/subjam in 2007) and unreleased Destruction of Chinese Pop Songs tracks.
Dødsmaskin are a Norwegian duet who have existed since 2014 and create music at the junction of industrial, noise and ambient. It was released three full-length albums, with the last of which we are reviewing today.
Crying Bamboos: Ceremonial Flute Music from New Guinea Madang is a collection of field recordings from New Guinea captured by Ragnar Johnson in 1979, unreleased until now. Across the two disks of material there are recordings from three different villages near the Ramu River.
With Rough Cut, we have a low-budget serial killer movie- that flits between sleazed humor, self-deprecation, and the odd intense/ flinch-inducing moment. Originally appearing in 2013- here’s a recent(ish) region one DVD of the film on Gator Blade Production- that’s run by Sean Donohue(Death-Scort Service & Die Die Delta Pi)
From the early 1990’s here a schlock-bound slice of pulpy sci-fi fare from the Full Moon Studios. Robot Wars certainly feels like it’s from another time than the 90's, feeling more like it could have been made in either the 50’s/ 60’s, save for a few more provocative quips. Here we have a region free Blu Ray from early on this year.
Box Of Teeth is a CDR box set from this horror movie obsessed walled-noise project from Connecticut. The set offers up three 3inc CDR’s, and each of these features a twenty-minute slice of gnarly, blackly nasty, though at times quite atmospheric wall-matter.