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Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens was Russ Meyers' final film of the 70’s, and his last proper feature, aside from a few bit ’n’ bobs, and his 2001 documentary regarding top-heavy adult actress Pandora Peaks. The film found the large-breast obsessed auteur at his most wacky and structurally darting. It’s a decidedly episodic affair, with a host of characters introduced, and kinky ‘n’ comic set-ups abound. The prime plot line focuses on a working-class everyman who enjoys going in the 'back door', and his partner, who is not too keen, but this is just the tip of the sleazy & satirical iceberg. Here from Severin, as part of their series of reissues of Meyer's filmography, is either a UHD or Blu-ray release of the film, taking in an exceedingly bright/ boyant scan, and a small selection of new & archive extras.
We've all experienced it, some more acutely than others: complete and total exhaustion of effort, impulse, motivation, and reasoning. That this should be the point of departure for an album dedicated to piano dirges with minimal synthesizer accompaniment is a novel concept.
Stop me if you’ve heard this film plot line before- a newly married couple go to an isolated house, to be attacked by some outside force. Yes, this is very heavily trodden ground, which is normally full to the brim with clichés and predictability. The basics of Crumb Catcher follow the above vague plot outline, but boy, does this 2023 film twist, turn, and warp the concept. It’s a blend of thriller, awkward & dark humour, martial drama, tense horror, and satire. Here from Arrow Video, both in the UK and Stateside, is a release of the film, taking in a director's commentary, a making of, previous films by the director, and more
La Terra Trema is a late 1940s film set in a Sicilian fishing village. It blends drama with documentary, with many of the cast played by either nonprofessional actors or real villagers. The picture focuses on the Valastro family, who decide to try and break away from greedy wholesalers, who give them little to nothing for their catch. Here from Radiance Films is a new Blu-ray release of the film, taking in a new 2k print, and a few extras.
The Tale of Oiwa’s Ghost is a 1961 horror/drama from writer/director Tai Kato (The Blossom and The Sword, Genghis Khan and his Mongols and Fighting Tatsu, The Rickshaw Man, he was also second unit director on Kurosawa’s masterpiece, Rashomon, so he has pedigree). The film stars Tomisaburô Wakayama (Lonewolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance, Lonewolf and Cub: Babycart in the Land of Demons and Black Rain), Ayuko Fujishiro (Crazed Fruit, I Am Waiting and Frankie no uchûjin), Jûshirô Konoe (Street of Ronin, Ronin of Ako and Blind Swordswoman: Hellish Skin) and Ushio Akashi (Prince of Space, Shonen tanteidan: Tomei kaijin, and Ultraman Leo).
Twin noise duo Relay For Death has their latest release, Mutual Consuming, hitting vinyl on The Helen Scarsdale agency in just a few days. Originally part of the 2019 cassette box set On Corrosion, the two track album is based on traditional Chinese medicine, the yin and the yang consuming each other, so to speak, to maintain the balance of their continuum. I'm sure as twins growing up together they had a closer analogy at hand, but the yin and yang is far more accessible to the single birthed majority. Slowly growing, oscillating, and ever encompassing, Mutual Consuming's two pieces are brooding soundscapes for a desolate world.
Alone In The World Of Wounds is the seventh solo album from Steve Von Till. It’s an eight-track affair, which blends/melds elements of sombre folk rock, country, ambient prog, forlorn string elements, and glum singer-songwriter tropes.
Thunderball finds The Melvins stripped down to a core of just two members, though they still manage to maintain their heaviness, sonic weight, and distinctive charm. We have King Buzzo on vocals, guitar, bass and production. And the band's original drummer, Mike Dillard, on percussion. It’s a five-track album, which splits itself between shorter/ more punchy tracks and longer, more mind-melting affairs.
Mock is a recent(ish) two-track release from this Cincinnati wall noise project. Each of the around thirty-minute walls has a tautly constricting feel, making for a nicely intense and airless hour-long ride.
There’s a rich history of ‘heavy’ rock adherents switching up and embracing the more ambient side of musical life. This isn’t that outlandish, of course, given the obvious overlap in meditative intensity and emotional depth inherent in both music that is relentlessly dark and noise-driven and music that is cosmic and ethereal. In fact, it’s in this very space that we find Norman Westberg, long-time (on and off) guitarist with original art-rock daddies Swans. No stranger to ambient composition and with several such releases under his belt, it is to this familiar territory that he has returned for his latest album, Milan.
When Evil Lurks is a 2023 Argentine film that tries to do something a little different with the demonic possession genre. Set in a small rural town, it regards the dumping of a bloatedly infected and possessed body, which makes things a hell of a lot worse. The decidedly bleak and glum-toned film brings together elements of supernatural horror, family drama, and body horror- blending broodingly unease with moments of jarring/ brutal violence. Here from Second Sight Films- coming as either a standard UHD or Blu-ray, or dual ltd edition- is a new reissue of the film. All versions feature a new 4K scan of the picture, new commentary, and other new interviews/ featurettes.
With a title like Nothing Underneath, you may be expecting a highly sleazy/ possibly violently nasty giallo similar to the likes of either 1975’s Strip Nude For Your Killer, or 1979’s Giallo in Venice. But instead, the mid-1980s Italian film is a blend of murder mystery, lightly erotic thriller, and largely bloodless Giallo/ slasher. Think a more Euro cult focused, at points fairly vapid take on Brian De Palma, and you get an idea of what we have here. From Rustblade, here's a forty-anniversary Blu-ray release of the film.
After a number of appetite whetting, shorter releases, Florida's Plasmodulated blast forth their debut full length, An Ocean ov Putrid, Stinky, Vile, Disgusting Hell. Hitting digital, CD, vinyl, and cassette with the help of Personal Records, Gurgling Gore, and Dawnbreed, this forty minute chunk of metal mayhem captures the band's hard work after getting their recording lineup squared away. The year spent writing and recording were well used, and Ocean is a ripping death metal romp inspired by the guitar tunings of old. Using standard tuning, Plasmodulated pay homage to their influences while separating themselves from the pack, where down tuning has become the norm. Although the band aims for a "yucky" sound, Plasmodulated feels more traditionally rooted with nice jaunts into modern arrangements keeping the album fresh and invigorating, but never really descending into the vileness that the lyrics and titles would let on.
Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen is a songwriter/musician hailing from Ålesund, Norway, and the leader of the Hedvig Mollestad Trio. The band is made up of Hedvig on guitar and vocals, with Ellen Brekken handling bass duties and Ivar Loe Bjørnstad on drums. Bees in the Bonnet is the band’s 8th studio album, and their first since 2021. Stylistically, they create a fairly unique mix of 70s style instrumental hard rock with jazz, prog and psychedelia, and they have an excellent reputation as a live band, having played concerts to enthusiastic crowds across the planet.
Here we have the second volume in Creepy Images giallo movie poster book series. For this glossy/ colour throughout book, we focus on two of the most important years in the genre's development, 1970 & 1971.
Reggae Steady Go is a two-CD collection bringing together four albums released by British label Creole Records in the early 1970s. There’s a classic album from Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry’s Upsetters, and three compilations, as well as a great selection of bonus tracks. The selection over the set is nicely varied, moving between the grooving, quirky, and more mellow/ playful. Over the two discs, there are a whopping fifty-three tracks.
Sex Rider: Wet Highway is an early 1970s Roman Porno, which blends in elements of thriller and action into its sleazy and softcore fleshy template. The film regards a woman who runs over a man, thinks he’s dead, but he isn’t and has other plans for the woman. Here from 88 Films, as part of their series reissues of Roman Porno released by Nikatsu studios, is a new Blu-ray release of the film, taking in an HD scan, a commentary track, and a few other extras.
Tokyo Emmanuelle is a blend of roman porno and euro softcore, with light arty ‘n’ moody touches. It regards a Japanese woman going back home, after falling out with her French lover, to go on a journey of sexual discovery, some of which isn’t consensual. This Blu-ray is part of 88 Films Nikkatsu Studios series, which sees the label reissue Roman Porno films the studio released in the 70s- taking in new film scan, new commentary track, and other extras.
From Dissonance Productions, here’s a double CD reissue of the first two albums by Canadian Death Metal project Gorguts- 1991’s Considered Dead, and 1993’s The Erosion Of Sanity. The band started a more straightforward DM venture, before later morphing into a more technical, at times avant-garde example of the genre. These two albums chart the beginning of that switch, so they are certainly key/ important albums, not just in the band’s history, but the development of the DM form in general.
Here’s a very diy release from (K)Anál Records, a CDR with a colour copied (or printed) inlay. The disc has six tracks, all pushing synth/electronics-driven harsh noise. Each of the tracks is around ten minutes in length, and all of them explore the (apparently) same set-up and sounds.
Roughly speaking, there are two kinds of drones within the genre, if it is indeed a genre. There are linear or durational drones, which tend to go on toward a particular horizon, driven by forward progress more than the articulation of specific sounds. The other, less popular, it seems, is the cyclical variety, in which a phrase or partial composition is repeated over and over, the drone serving as the ultimate endpoint of these repetitions, though not its telos per se. If you'll excuse this rather cursory parsing of the genre, Amoshpère's latest release, Cosmogonical Ears, definitely falls within the cyclical camp.
Terminus is a 1987 Franco-German sci-fi movie directed by Pierre-William Glenn (23h58, Death Watch and Extérieur Nuit) . The film stars Jurgen Prochnow (David Lynch’s Dune, Das Boot and Judge Dredd), Karen Allen (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Starman and Animal Lampoon’s Animal House), the man known as the French Elvis, Johnny Hallyday (The Man on the Train, Crime Scene and Pourquoi Pas Moi?), and Gabriel Damon (Robocop 2, The Land Before Time and Tequila Sunrise).
Appearing in 1993, a year after A Blaze In The Northern Sky, Under A Funereal Moon saw Darkthrone clarify and crudely distil their black metal sound. The eight-track album found the band iron out all the death metal elements from their last album, amp up the distortion, and let the blackened ice-coldness rush in. Here from Peaceville Records is the next in the series of two-disc CD reissues of classic BM albums from the band, with the first disc taking in the original album, and the second disc features a full-length commentary track from drummer/songwriter Feriz.
It’s always difficult to add something new, different, and worthwhile to classic/genre-defining albums when reissuing them, but this two-CD reissue of Darkthrone’s genre-defining black metal masterpiece does just that. On the first disc is the original album, and on the second disc, we get a full album commentary from drummer/songwriter Feriz- with some wonderful, honest, at times amusing insights. Here from Peaceville Records is the first in a series of four two-disc CD reissues of classic BM albums from the band.