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From the early 1990’s The Cat is a wacky ‘n’ pulpy blend of mystery, sci-fi-edged action, and horror. It brings together a dog-fighting-cat from out of space, a Blob/Thing-like alien that takes over folks, and a curious/smug novelist. The joint Hong Kong/Japanese-produced film is certainly one hell of a ride, with well-set-up/choreographed action scenes, blended with Hong Kong wackiness. Here from 88 Films is a Blu-ray release of the picture, featuring a new 2k scan of the film, the alternative Japanese version, a commentary track, and an interview with the film's writer.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: the Finnish experimental music scene is like no other. In fact, the word experimental is almost moribund here because music produced by this most Easterly of Nordic countries is seldom what anyone would call mainstream. Whether its metal or electronic, Finnish musicians have a habit of touching the outer reaches of creativity and yet make it feel oh so natural. And electronic musician Timo Kaukolampi is no exception. Both a voracious collaborator and an acclaimed solo artist, Kaukolampi vehemently creates with no evident boundaries. In fact, his sole aim as both musician and producer is to destroy everything he makes – and then recreate it again. Based in Helsinki, he has spent the last few years concentrating on his solo career with the 2023 release of Inside the Sphere and now his latest Synestopia Variations 1-4.
In 1989, Chilean filmmaker, Alejandro Jodorowsky created one of his finest surreal masterpieces, a film called Santa Sangre. It follows the life of a young boy, Fenix (played by Jodorowsky’s son Axel), who is growing up within the confines of a Mexican circus with his father, Orgo the knife thrower and his mother, Concha a religious fanatic. Orgo is also in an extra-marital relationship with the tattooed lady, whom Concha is jealous of. All of this combines to produce one of the most wonderful, surreal horror movies. However, alongside Jodorowsky’s unique stylistic touches and weird brand of storytelling, one of the key factors in making Santa Sangre such a success is the musical score from English composer/ musician, Simon Boswell. Boswell has more than 90 soundtracks to his name, including work for Dario Argento, Clive Barker, Richard Stanley and Danny Boyle. Santa Sangre remains one of his most celebrated works.
Here’s a split that gives us two sides of the wall noise coin. From Bar, Montenegro’s Edo Žuđelović, we get constantly piling-on & hiss-bound ANW. And from California’s Koobaatoo Asparagus, we get thick bass bound ‘n’ bone grinding HNW. Each track runs at around the twenty-minute mark.
Longing Landscapes takes in three modern ensemble works written by Swiss composer and clarinettist Jürg Frey. Each is played with great patience, wonderful subtlety, and often emotional depth by the Prague Quite Music Collective.
Here’s a C34 digital download featuring two slices of structurally uncertain and moody walled noise from Thin Mountain, one of the many projects of American noisemaker Sean E. Matzus (Black Leather Jesus & Last Rape).
Isolating something as ubiquitous as sound – how sounds first emerge and press their acoustic phenomena upon us – is damn near impossible. Why? Well, how do you stop listening, or pay attention to an act that is almost entirely passive? BJ Nilsen's latest field recording coup, True than Nature, operates on the premise that such encounters – where the nature of sonic emergence is first felt and perceived – can be coaxed if handled correctly. What makes this achievement all the more remarkable is the fact that True than Nature manages all of this while still projecting a mood, and it is a creepy one, to be sure. The eerie feel of the album is perhaps intended as a means to disrupt our normal modes of listening, to keep us from resorting to passive modes of being.
Aguirre, the Wrath of God was the fifth film from German writer/ director Werner Herzog. The early 1970s film blended the genres of adventure, psychological drama, and arthouse period drama in an inventive/ impactful manner. The 16th-century set film is captured in a on-the-cuff documentary manner- it regards a Spanish expedition over the mountains of Peru and down the Amazon river in search of the fictitious city of gold. The picture features a career-defining lead performance from an unpredictable German actor, Klaus Kinski, as the ruthless and unbalanced leader of the expedition. Here from the BFI is a new reissue of this classic film, as either a UHD or Blu-ray disc, taking in a new 4k scan, and a selection of new/ archive extras, including another feature-length film, and a selection of shorts from Herzog.
Writer-director Brando Topp's feature debut, That Alien, Sound, starring Mia Danelle, Will Tranfo, and Amy Hill, is a sci-fi dramedy that follows Micah, a girl who claims to have been taken over by an alien sound wave transmitted through a radio Broadcast, leaving her boyfriend and her family struggling to understand what has happened to her.
Celebrating twenty years of creeping ambient, Slomo's 2005 release, The Creep, is not only getting a much-needed reissue, but is hitting vinyl for the very first time. The brainchild of Chris McGrail and Howard Marsden, the pairing was initially called their cyclopean slab "The Ballad of Jhonn & Sleazy," in honor of the very recent passing of Coil's Jhonn Balance. Presented here on two sides, The Creep is one long, droning, dark piece that quickly made a name for itself and Slomo, selling out quickly before a larger CD release the following year in 2006. "Recorded live with minimal overdubs & zero eye-contact," one can feel the artists channelling their grief, thoughts, and processing their own mortality through dark drones, rolling reverb, and subterranean synths.
Freckled Max and the Spooks is a 1987 Czech horror/comedy film from writer/director Juraj Jakubisko (Perinbaba, An Ambiguous Report About the End of the World and Bathory: Countess of Blood) starring Martin Hreben (Juzná Posta, Panelák and Frankenstein’s Aunt), Gerhard Karzel (Tatort, Frankenstein’s Aunt and Le Gorille), Eddie Constantine (Alphaville, The Long Good Friday and Frankenstein’s Aunt), Viveca Lindfors (Creepshow, Stargate and The Adventures of Don Juan) and Ferdy Mayne (Where Eagles Dare, The Fearless Vampire Killers and Conan The Destoyer).
Sergio Armaroli & Pietro Grossi's OSTN is described in the liner notes as a piece for "vibraphone and tape", a delirious midnight reverie of cold, aqueous resonances and bell-like tones from Sergio Armaroli's vibraphone. It is pleasantly reverberant, as if emerging from a sewer pipe. The tape effects are generally so subtle as to constitute a faint hiss in the background for most of the recording. Only in rare moments when the vibraphone is completely removed are any tape effects clearly audible, and they still seem to be comprised of faint static.
2011's Rural Gothic Horror Jacob is a relatively straightforward take on the slasher genre, where a disturbed, mistreated and misunderstood figure becomes a local bogeyman. Written, directed, and produced by Larry Wade Carrell, his additional involvement in taking not one but two roles on screen leaves us in no doubt that Jacob is very much his film. Here's a recent Blu-ray release of the picture from Crazed House.
Praise Be! is the latest in the ongoing Lux & Ivy compilation series, which finds respected music journalist Dave Henderson crate-digging for obscure 45s. And this time around, it’s something a little different from the normal 50’s/ 60’s Rock & Roll, Exotica, or novelty tunes focused fare- as its title may suggest, the compilation's focus is Gospel. It features twenty-three tracks, which cover most sides of the genre, going from raw and rowdy, to the soulful/ blues tinged and to the more country side of things.
Better Times is the second in the series of compilations from Doctor Bird, bringing together singles produced by influential & creative reggae producer Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry in the year 1971. It’s a double CD affair, bringing together forty-five tracks. I’d say this is one of less consistent Perry compilations I’ve heard, as on more than a few occasions when we get different versions of the same tracks played after each other. And the focus is generally on the more straightforward side of producers' output, but there are moments of greatness present.
From the early 1970s, Neither the Sea Nor the Sand is a windswept and seawater-lashed mix of moody romantic drama & low-key folk horror- with light touches of undead mystery and eerie unease. Here from 88 Films, as part of their Tigon Studios series, is a release of the film. Available as either DVD or Blu-ray- it features a new HD scan, two commentary tracks, and a selection of new interviews.
From the late 80s, Her Vengeance was one of the first films to receive Hong Kong's Category III rating, which indicated graphic or disturbing content. As the film's title may suggest, it’s a rape revenge thriller, taking in more than a few extreme scenes such as sexualized violence, brutal scissor slicing, a fair few gory facial attacks, and bloody pole damage. It also features a believable lead, a decent selection of nasty characters, and some neat wheelchair-based fighting. Here from 88 Films is a new Blu-ray of the picture- it features two versions of the film, a standard more seen version, and a more extreme unrated version, and a commentary track.
From last year, Fear Cabin: The Last Weekend of Summer is a blend of friends-in-a-cabin horror and stalking witch terror. The film features passable low-budget acting, moments of unsettlement/ unease, and some decent( if slightly overused) floating in the air effects. On the less positive side, it’s edited somewhat erratically- with new characters dropping in & out, seemingly randomly. Here from Cleopatra Entertainment is a region-free DVD of the film.
Experimental Irish trio, Rún, see their self-titled debut album hit Rocket Recordings this week, showcasing depth, heaviness, release, and mystery through varied forms of engaging expression. Not pigeonholed to one sound or style, the three artists each bring their whole selves to the table and craft a work that is fresh, exciting, and invigorating, with every song taking the listener on its own separate journey. And while rún can mean mystery, anyone that listens to this album can easily see that there is something magical here, a passion that is audible from the second the first note jumps from the speakers.
There is little room to breathe on Jorge Espinal's debut solo effort, Bombos y cencerros, as each of the nine tracks on the album pushes the limits of listenability.
From the early 1990s, Arcade focuses on a VR game that is figuratively and literally hooking a group of teens in. The film blends Sci-Fi, light horror, and John Hughes-like teen drama. It’s an entertaining enough ride of movie, and if if like me, you dig retro tech and old computer graphics, then you’ll enjoy what’s on offer here. This recent region-free Blu-ray from Full Moon Features offers up a new commentary, and a few archive features.
First released in 2010, Gateway was the 14th studio album from Norway’s Erik Wøllo. It’s a release which wonderfully shifts between the tuneful and moody, with its effortlessly blending of ambience, electronica, instrumental rock, light prog rock, and soundtrack. Here from Projekt is a fifteen-year anniversary/ double disc release of the album, taking in the original album, plus a bonus disc of eight never-released tracks.
Dirt Collector is the seventh studio album from Warshall-based two-piece Mazut. Active since the mid-2010s, they create often sample dense/ at times sonically unbalancing retro-focused electronica.
Here’s a smartly presented CDR in a printed card wallet, with both front and back covers depicting a bridge across water. The label spiel says that although it was established to reissue archival recordings, it has released Rolling Stock, recorded 2023-2024, since it revisits the late 1990s as a ’well crafted homage to DHR releases and ambient breakcore/jungle playlists from the 90’s’. The album is a compilation of tracks taken from three digital EPs.