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This record - the one hundredth on Anothertimbre - brings together a strange set of circumstances for the recording of a series of composed and improvised pieces in the conservatory of AMM member and veteran British improviser John Tilbury. The first circumstance of note is the combination of players; Tilbury making his recorded debut on clavichord (he usually plays piano), John Lely on electronics and Palestinian improviser Dirar Kalash on oud. A most unusual trio! Also of note is the natural limitation on volume that the quiet sound of the clavichord imposes on the other instruments as well as the occasional intrusion of sound from Tilbury's seaside recording environment onto the recordings themselves.
During A lifetime features three works from this Contemporary Canadian composer. Each of the pieces is focused around long sustained & penetrating tones, that are arranged in an often haunting & angular fashion.
It’s fair to say the Phantasm series of movies are some of the most enduring, creative, and distinctive films to come out of the horror genre- as they masterfully blend together horror, sci-fi, humor, action & real emotionally depth- all in a very balanced & appealing manner. Here from Arrow UK we have one of their most impressive & grand sets thus far….a six Blu-Ray set taking all five on the Phantasm films, loads of extras, a 152-page book, and one of the more classy ‘n’ cool bits of packaging you’ll have seen it quite some time.
Dig Archaeology (1980 - 1990) is a nearing 80-minute compilation that moves between chugging blends of horns & avant punk, sneering & edgy new-wave, bizarre cover versions, pop/ easy-listening parodies, creative blends of field-recordings/ weird radio recordings & blended genres, and beyond.
French Pagan Folk pioneers Arexis and Lafforgue (of Stille Volk) have teamed up to form La Breiche. Their debut album, Le Mal Des Ardents, is a concept album about terror, fear, and balance. Feeling like something lifted straight out of time, Le Mal Des Ardents makes insteresting use of archaic sounds and feelings and places them into a modern language.
Well, this a tome. Two audio CDs, one DVD, and a booklet, all gathered together in an amazing reissue of Killing Technology by the Canadian band, Voivod. As part of my older brother’s attempts to convert me to good music, I inherited from him a TDK C90 with Killing Technology on one side, and Burn My Eyes by Machine Head on the other. Truth be told, the latter did much more to win me over, and it wasn’t until some years later, when I heard Nothingface (and then traced back to Dimension Hatröss) that I could understand my brother’s zeal. However, to be honest Killing Technology, though good, was always the lesser of the three (in my opinion), and the one I listened to least. So it’s been a pleasure to reacquaint myself with the album, through this reissue.
Originally released in 1978 Blake's New Jerusalem was the second album from British keyboardist Tim Blake, Who is most known for his work with Gong & Hawkwind. Here from Esoteric Records we have a recent CD reissue of the album- featuring three bonus tracks- two of which are fairly epic in length, pushing the original albums just under forty minute runtime to near double its length.
Presence are a progressive rock band from Naples in Italy. Formed in the late 1980s, the group are a three piece, featuring vocalist/pianist Sophya Baccini, keyboardist/ percussionist Enrico Iglio, and guitarist Sergio Casamassima. They are augmented on this album by drummer Sergio Quagliarella, and bass player Mino Berlano. “Masters and Following” is their latest studio release, and comes with a bonus disc of live material from the band’s back catalogue.
Machinefabriek’s latest album Assemblage is just that, an assemblage of rare material originally recorded for compilations, collaborations, unreleased film and installation soundtracks, and the Nerf EP that received a limited release as a 3” CD. The brain child of Rutger Zuyderveldt, Machinefabriek have been around the block and have released a number of proclamations of their intent since their inception in 2004.
Night Eyes is the tenth full length album by the reclusive mudboy, and his first in seven years. A key member of the early 2000's free-folk and experimental music scene coming out of Providence, Rhode Island, mudboy is largely identified with modified analog electronic keyboards and a live shows featuring shamanistic performances and DIY pyrotechnics.
The Greasy Strangler is a recent shot of bad taste/ quirky cinema that falls somewhere between awkward comedy & campy horror movie. Bringing together John Waters like shock traits, a selection of odd characters, lo-if eye-popping horror effects, and synth soundtrack that sounds like a meeting between The Residents & 8bit electro-core.
Here we have the 30th Anniversary reissue of the soundtrack for Dario Argento’s arty & Gothic 80’s Giallo based in an opera house. The release blends together the dramatic & often sleek synthetic score from Claudio Simonetti, a few slices of 1980’s metal, and a selection of eight bonus tracks.
Transits is the fourth full length releases from this UK two piece, who have been creating drone/doom matter since 2006. I’ve been following the project since their debut, The Creep which saw them brew-up an extremely rewarding blend of folk horror themed bass tones and sinister ambience. For this new release, they are very much departing from the murky & earthbound themes of their past releases, for a distinctly more space & star bound drone trip split into three twenty-to- twenty five minute tracks.
Back At Hole offers up four slices of bass seared & intense walled-noise nastiness from this French project. The release comes in the form of four CDR, and appeared on Minneapolis-based label Altar Of Waste.
Here’s a sombrely presented CD (pro-pressed and printed) on Crónica. The imagery, and explanatory notes on the back cover, suggested to me that Juryo: Durée de la Vie de L'ainsi​-​venu koxx might be an album dominated by field recording, and whilst it very much is, in one sense, sonically it’s really quite different. The album is largely constructed from field recordings from across Asia, sometimes processed, sometimes raw. The second, third, and fourth tracks are inspired by a chapter of the Lotus Sûtra - a famous text of Mahâyâna Buddhism - whilst the first, Tanit Astarté, ‘is a quotation from Antonin Artaud’s book Héliogabale, and refers to the moon goddess, as described in Phoenician myths.’
Crónica Recordings presents Urban Dialog by Tamtam. Tamtam is the Berlin based duo of Sam Auinger and Hannes Strobl who, in their own words, refer to their music as a “practice where the environment becomes the instrument and instrument becomes the sound environment.” While artist blurbs can often mislead, in the case of Tamtam, it’s a description that’s fittingly accurate.
Finnish, one-man synth act, Anvil Strykez (nope, that's not a typo...unfortunately) brings its 80's inspired, retro synth attack to Wolf Force Corporation. The eponymous debut sees seven tracks of propulsive, synthwave fury. Put on your louvered shades, tighten your wristbands, and hit the floor with Anvil Strykez.
Trevor Shelley de Brauw's 20 year musical career has manifested as an exploration of the vast sonic possibilities of the guitar. Best known for his work with post-rock mainstays Pelican and other projects of varying frequency and notoriety, Uptown is his debut as a solo artist.
Synth ambient pioneer Steve Roach has continued with a relentlessly prolific stream of releases since the early 80's.
Burial Ground was one of the more silly, sleazy, yet atmospheric films of the 1980’s Italian zombie cycle. It blended together gut munching, haphazard latex zombie masks, soft-core moments, corny/ stilted dialogue, and a distinctly gothic atmosphere. Here we have, what I believe to be, the first ever Blu-ray transfer of the film. And I must say it’s one of the best transfers I’ve seen it sometime…literally blowing away past versions I’d seen.
Cathy’s Curse is head-scratching, bizarre, and at times nonsensical example of late 1970’s horror exploitation. It's a film that will have even the most seasoned connoisseur of so-bad-it’s-good movies, rolling their eyes in disbelief and chuckling. It truly is a film that has to be seen to be believed!
Here’s a cassette on Altar of Waste, released in a very limited edition of 10 copies. The inlay is dominated by a murky shot of a snowy forest (I think…), which is very evocative, and reflective of the sounds within. The tape has three tracks - two long, one considerably shorter - and amounts to just over an hour’s material.
This self titled C30/ digital download brings together two examples of worthy, subtle shifting & creative walled noise. The split features French female wall-noise maker Naughty, and Californian based She walks Crooked.
Blue Vocem offers up two thirty minute slices of walled noise from these two euro projects. As the releases title suggest the theme here is the colour blue and in particular blue noise- this is a high-frequency of white noise, which with each successive octave increases by three decibels.