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Originally released in 1977 Body Love is one of the more bizarre, though at the time popular additions to the discography of this highly respected & inferential German electronic music composer and synth wiz. The album was the 7th release from Mr Schulze, it was his first soundtrack album, and the bizarre & unexpected side of it all, is that it’s the soundtrack for a porn movie- which really when thinking of Mr Schulze’s work is the last thing you’d think of.
L'empire Des Sens( English translation The Empire of the Senses) offers up a taut ‘n’ tightly knitted slice of brutal HNW from this French wall-noise project. The release comes in either a cassette or digital download, and appeared last year on spokhand Washington based Lost Light Records .
Prolific American sound artist, Z'ev, once again sees his creation released on Cold Spring Records. Eleven Mirrors to the Light is eleven tracks of droning soundscapes that bounce between light and dark, airy and earthy, and soft and rough. Z'ev's ability to create these soundscapes out of percussion instruments challenges the way most conceptualize droning experimental. This is funny, because Z'ev has been recording in this fashion longer than many artists have been alive. When looking at it this way, Z'ev isn't the exception, but the rule.
The Infernal Depths is a suffocating yet atmospheric blend of lose, blunt & pummelling wall-craft, with bleak ambient industrial texturing. The release comes in the form of a C30 cassette on Russia Reason Art Records, featuring one track per side of tape, and as of writing this review the label still have copies available.
From September last year here we have a C90 split- bringing together two lengthy slices of walled-noise, one from French scene legend Vomir & the other from up & coming Russian wall project Train Cemetery . The release came in an edition of ten copies, which are now sadly all sold out from the label in physical form, though it can still be downloaded in digital from the labels bandcamp.
Ufosonic Generator are a doom metal band from Italy. The Evil Smoke Possession appears to be their debut album, there doesn’t seem to be a great deal of information available about the band so we shall dig straight in to the music.
Aborym is an industrial/experimental metal band formed in Taranto (Italy) in 1992 and based in Rome. Since its genesis, founder & frontman Fabban has always played the first fiddle, while rest of the line-up went through several transformations. The band's early albums are considered as milestones of the industrial metal genre while Aborym itself established its position as a forward thinking industrial band that never stood still. Industrial/electronic metal plagued and combined with rock, alternative, noise, IDM and electro-harsh music. Heavy use of synthesizers, modular programming, custom modular machines and experimental noise…..
Well here’s a real surprise release from late last year, the first album of new material in 30 years from Uk avant-pop/ (off) world music two piece Renaldo and the Loaf. Gurdy Hurding sees the pair returning to the distinctively strange & quirky sonic waters of the past, yet adding in a few new twists & turns to their sound- all to make an album that is both pleasing familiar yet oddly fresh too.
To be honest, when I first got wind of Factory Photographs, I knew it wouldn’t take much convincing that this was something I needed to hear. I love David Lynch and I mostly like Xiu Xiu, so on paper this sounded like something right up my alley. For those unfamiliar, Factory Photographs by Hexa, available as a digital download and LP on Room44, is essentially a soundtrack to the artwork of David Lynch.
Hanakisasage is another recent addition to this Japanese noise legend truly huge discography. The release comes in the form of a CD, and offers up two length slices of dense & shifting noise craft that brings together elements psychedelic & roasting electronics, layers of squalling & searing harsh noise, and often a feeling of lose jam based composition.
The original Blair Witch film remains one of my favourite horror movies, and I’m always surprised at the amount of people who are indifferent or dismissive of it - though I can very clearly see why The Blair Witch Project is a divisive topic. For better or worse, it really launched the ‘found footage’ horror genre, but curiously didn’t launch a Blair Witch film franchise, as it threatened to. There was a second film, which wasn’t very memorable, and more enticingly a prequel, proposed long ago by the original writers, which seems to have been forgotten.
OGROFF(aka Mad Mutilator) is truly derange, ultra lo-fi, and bizarre blend of slasher & zombie genres. The film is French, from the early 1980’s, and it’s a real brain frying experience, which moves between shock ‘n’ gore, and puzzlement ‘n’ oddness. I’m reviewing the region one DVD release of the film which appeared not so long back on Canadian retro focused DVD & VHS company Videonomicon.
Here we have the third volume in the Sonkillage Series, and once again it’s another wacky & decidedly retro focused release bringing together a selection of eighteen tracks that mix together sonic collages, loops & lo-fi electronica into a heady & quirky brew. And I must say this release is carrying on the quality, variedness, and appeal of the last vol in the series.
Frank Bretschneider, whom I have known previously as Komet, released a number of cleverly constructed glitch beat compositions on the Raster Noton label, elaborate but logical arrangements of clicks and pops similar to labelmates CoH and Alva Noto. It would appear he has ceased to use the Komet alias in the last 6 years, but releases under his given name have continued. "Isolation" is one of two albums from 2015. Its sound is quite different from the output of Komet.
Legendary, defunct, German artists, Maeror Tri, are once again given the pleasure of having their older cassette releases reissued from Zoharum. This newest re-issue sees 1991's Sensuum Mendacia and Maeror Tri's side of 1990's split Somnia remastered and given the limited edition treatment. With much of Maeror Tri's catalog out of print, Zoharum is doing the music world a favor by bringing these older albums back into the light.
Laster are an atmospheric Black Metal band from the Netherlands. They released their acclaimed debut, “De Verste Verte is Hier”, in 2014 through Dunkelheit Produktoinen on vinyl and CD, however a limited edition cassette was also released via Broken Limbs Recordings.
Here we have a long-over due & much needed CD reissue of this soundtrack for one of the most classy, campy, & great horror films of the 1980’s Fright Night. The disc takes in just the original released soundtrack album, and not the films score. Featured here are the ten tracks( all but one written for the film), and these take in a good ‘n’ catchy blend of 80’s rock, New wave, and moody pop.
From 1980 Journey To An Imaginary Land is the first album from Gandalf ( aka Austrian multi-instrumentalist Heinz Strobl). And it’s a very pleasing, moody & memorable blend of light instrumental prog, folk elements, new wave music, & and spacey synth-scaping. Imagine a blend of Oldfield & more guitar based Popol Vuh, with hints of Tangerine Dream & Vangelis, and get an idea of what’s on offer here. Here we have a much deserved 2017 CD reissue of the album on Esoteric records.
Exquisite Corpse is a surreal, layered, shifting & often dense affair that blends together elements of throbbing ‘n’ buzzing synth craft, ritual plucks ‘n’darts, strange & esoteric samples, chants, and lo-key experimentation & atmosphere. It’s the first release from this four piece project, and appears as a CDR releases on the always worthy Reverb Worship.
Sonic Drawings is a four track album of found sounds, analogue and digital machines and self built instruments, and is designed to give the listener the feeling and effects of the world around us. The chasm between silence and noise and what fills that void. The musicality and richness of the machines in our world played out across the albums 50 minute span.
Red Tape is a C60 release that brings together two close to half-a-hour slice of noise craft themed around Burlesque. Featured here is Mexican based Wehrmacht Lombardo, who offers up a blend of spiralling guitar based drone, stark ambience & wall noise. And Frances RRR, who offers up a formal example of walled noise.
Border Of Nowhere is a C40 tape offering up two sides of taut, caustic, and oppressive wall-craft from French HNW project RRR. The release appeared in both physical & digital form- with tape getting at pressing of 20 copies, of which some are still available at present.
An odd numbered year generally means a record from The Necks and they have duly delivered, making a rare break from their own Fish of Milk label to appear via Stephen O'Malley's Ideologic Organ imprint. Unfold, which is lavishly presented as a gatefold double LP also breaks from the traditional Necks format by featuring four individual side length pieces instead of the familiar single hour-plus length meditation. Like the material that made up Chemist from 2006 and Mindset from 2011 all the tracks are around the 15-20 minute mark, a relative degree of brevity that allows the band to showcase a wider range of their technical and textural virtuosity.
Fire! is an improvisatory jazz rock trio which includes Mats Gustafsson, string bassist Johan Berthling and drummer Andreas Werliin. "She Sleeps, She Sleeps" is their 5th album as a group, and one of countless albums conceived by its members.