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Plasma D'arc is the duo of instrumentalist Nikola Jan Gross and synthesist/producer Gaspard Gigon. Their debut release, Ellipse, is available for cassette or download through Swiss label SBIRE, a thirty-minute release with six tracks averaging five-seven minutes each.
There Is No Space For Us is the thirty-seventh studio album from UK space Rock legends Hawkwind. The eight-track album sees the five-piece firing on all cylinders- creating a record that rewardingly shifts from spacecraft zooming urgency, mid-paced starry wonder, and constellation drifting moodiness
Folk rock band, Home Service were formed by ex-members of the Albion Band in the 1980s. Only two of the original eight members remain, Michael Gregory (drums and percussion) and Graeme Taylor (electric guitars), the rest of the current lineup includes Andy Lester (Trombone), Shane Brennan (Trumpet), Andy Findon (Saxophone), Steve King (keyboards and tenor saxophone), Rob Levy (bass guitar), and last but not least, the legend that is Bob Fox (acoustic guitar and vocals).
Fabien Lévy is a French composer whose work sits between urgent modern composition and angular avant-jazz. Here’s a CD bringing together five of his pieces from between the 1990s and early 2020s.
Evis Sammoutis is a Cypriot American composer who creates dartingly layered, to emotionally taut/ detailed modern classical works. From the always worthy Kairos Music, Atrapós is a CD release bringing together five of his pieces, with a focus largely on string and chamber works.
Night Of The Felines is a 70’s Roman Porno film that blends character study and sleazy humour. It’s set in and around a downtown Tokyo bathhouse, focusing on those who work there & find pleasure there. The film is a quirky, often oddly charming affair, with one or two arty touches here & there. Here from 88 Films, as part of there series of reissues from the roman porno cycle- taking in a new HD scan, a new commentary, and a few other extras.
Bad Channels is a wayward blend of 1950s sci-fi and 1990s wacky comedy, with a side order of 80s metal-focused musical. The film regards a small-town radio station under attack by an alien who snatches, shrinks, and puts a selection of women in glass jars. It’s a picture that manages to both try your patience and entertain, making it a film that is easy to be in two minds about. Here from Full Moon Entertainment is a recent Blu-Ray release of the film, featuring a new commentary track and a few other extras.
From scouring the pages of Google, it’s clear that free-jazz ensemble Das B. place greater emphasis on their music than sustaining a public profile. And why trouble oneself with such 21st-century concerns when you are producing music of this calibre? Formed in 2014, when Lebanese trumpeter Mazen Kerat, keen to continue the sonic explorations he’d been developing for over a decade in his native Beirut, started to assemble a group of Berlin-based musicians. He approached collaborators pianist Magda Mayas and drummer Tony Buck, followed shortly by bassist Mike Majkowski and the quartet set off on tour, pledging their allegiance to the world of noise exploration. With their debut Canopy released in 2020 - a live performance recorded three years previously, now comes their first studio effort, a re-imagining of John Coltrane’s seminal A Love Supreme, recorded in 2022 and simply called Love.
Now here is a film that lives up to its title, and then some!, Visceral: Between the Ropes of Madness is a 2010 Chilean picture, regarding the unfolding/ breakdown of a boxer. It features gore/ violence- both extreme & sexualized, Intense BDSM, rage, torture, vomit and a largely industrial/noise-based soundtrack- which intensifies things even more. Here from Unearthed Films- those seekers of worldwide extreme film- is the first ever Blu-ray release of the film, including a director's commentary track & a few other things.
The Iron Rose was the fifth feature film from French director/ writer Jean Rollin. The early 1970s film saw him stepping away from his normal erotic & often vampiric-focused fare, for a very slow-burning & moody drama, come low-key psychological drama regarding two lovers lost/ trapped in a graveyard. Here, from Powerhouse, as part of their series of reissues of Rollin’s filmography, is either a UHD or Blu-ray release of the film. It takes a new 4K scan, two versions of the film, a new commentary track, and a selection of new and archive extras.
CRYO is a trip into gloomily bounding and ultimately very doom-laden modern composition for cello and piano. It’s a two-track album, with each track lasting around the twenty-minute mark, and each is as brooding & bleak as the last.
I think it’s fair to say that the use of scat singing/ jazz vocalising has a decidedly mixed/ often negative history- more often than not, it can sound either very pretentious, annoying, or just plain silly. So as a result, I usually avoid anything related/ connected to it the like plague, and this is where Hippo Road comes in, as I think it easily stands as one of the most rewarding, versatile, and creative examples I’ve heard of the form, along as been a great edgy/moody improv jazz release.
Challenging audiences for four decades, Icelandic duo Stilluppsteypa has delivered their newest LP, Schokolino Choco Loco, via Futura Resistenza. Experimental but very accessible, this duo creates an engaging composition of electronic indulgence that, while hard to put one's finger on, never gets unwieldy or overly bizarre. Its almost dreamlike construction allows the listener to get lost in its many tones, folds, drones, and layers, changing with each successive spin. Always playing to the brighter side of experimentation, Schokolino Choco Loco is a whimsical bit of electronics that will bring a smile to many faces.
Art Of Receiving is a twelve-minute trip into soothingly tunnelling, if lightly gritty ANW from Poland’s Olion. This is a self-released digital single/ EP.
Here’s thirty minutes of brutalising ‘n’ billowing walled noise from UK’s MDS ( Most Dangerous Soldier). This project's themes all of its work around macho/robotic sci-fi focused anime, and the like- for this release, we get an illustration of a futuristic/ violent ballgame, along the lines of Rollerball (1975).
Punishment For Rebellion ( რაჯანყებისთვის სასჯელი) is a three-track album from Mtskheta, Georgia‘s Owners Of Knowledge, who blend walled noise, dense ambience, and field recordings. As with other recent releases from the project, each of the tracks has a runtime of twenty-five minutes- the sound is set/ fixed
Private Club is a mid-70s French film that blends softcore sleaze with romantic drama, which regards a soon-to-be-wed Paris taxi driver who gets involved with an exclusive/secret sex club. It’s a decidedly tonal mixed affair, weaving together threads of drama, softcore action with light touches of comedy and mystery. Here from 88 Films is a recent, rather bare-bones Blu-ray release of the film.
Steppenwolf is a 2024 thriller from Kazakhstan, written and directed by Adilkhan Yerzhanov (Ademoka’s Education, The Gentle Indifference of the World and A Dark, Dark Man). The film stars Berik Aytzhanov (The Composer, The Liquidator and The Legend of Tomiris), Azamat Nigmanov (Konvoy, Inseparable and Vtoroe Zrenie) and Anna Starchenko (Mavr, Cadet and Nartai).
Long-running experimental industrial act SATØRI hit Cold Spring earlier this year for his latest slab of noise and destruction, Pillars of Salt. Blowing out eardrums and blasting brains over the last five decades, SATØRI bring their brand of industrial in a more rhythmic, beat-driven direction, all while staying true to their harsher, layered roots. Heavy in both tone and theme, the grim soundscapes on Pillars of Salt will be sure to darken anyone's day.
O A | F G takes in two very sparse/ spaced-out examples of modern ensemble work, from Belgrade-born, now New York City based composer Teodora Stepančić. These are works that need both patience( from the listener and players alike) and a good sense of memory, so very much a release that will take both time and effort to fully appreciate.
Chamber Works…1943- 1951 is a collection of pieces highlighting both the creativity and variation of John Cage's earlier work. It finds members of the highly regarded modern ensemble Apartment House playing the works, with such great flair, depth and clarity.
Motorpsycho! was the 11th film from American filmmaker/ writer Russ Meyer. It was made just before his first breakthrough/cult classic film Faster, Pussycat!, Kill!, kill! In the year 1965. Unlike much of Ms Meyer’s output, there’s no camp, cheese, or wacky plotting elements- as Motorpsycho! is more of a straight, dusty set and gritty action thriller- regarding a trio of bikers who go on rape and murder spree- with the unlikely pairing of a small-town veterinarian, and French Filipino ex-dancer looking for vengeance. The film feels of its time, with its brisk blend of noir thriller, gunplay ‘n’ chase-based action, and drama. Here, from Severin, as part of their series of reissued Meyer films, is a Blu-ray release of the film, taking in a new 4 K scan, a commentary track, and an interview.
Entertaining Mr Sloane is an early 1970s British seedy drama/ dark comedy regarding a manipulative pretty boy lodger who gets his claws into a quirky brother & sister duo. The film featured ahead of its time homo/hetero-lusting, innuendo tipped to bitchy laced dialogue, and bucket loads of campiness. Here from Severin Films is a Blu-ray release of the film, taking a 2k of the picture, a new commentary track, and a selection of new/ archive extras.
North Of The Viaduct is an example of a more layer active wall craft from Cincinnati’s Whore’s Breath. It’s a thirty-minute track that rewardingly weaves together several textual profiles and interesting tonal details for an engaging yet expertly controlled wall-noise ride.