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The Grimorian Tapes is the newest collaboration between She Spread Sorrow and Luca Sigurtà, coming this month through The Helen Scarsdale Agency. Dealing with the idea of eluding death through magical or alchemical means, the duo handle the task through grim industrial textures and haunting vocal approaches, as She Spread Sorrow is known for. Like the spells and processes in the grimoires that inspired the album, The Grimorian Tapes has a hypnotic, ritualistic feel, immersing the listener in a world of esoteric volumes, knowledge, and occult practices.
Ectoplasm is a new single/ EP from Poland’s Olion- a walled noise project that has been active since 2022. It takes a single twelve-minute ‘wall’ which blends constant bass cluttering drone, with splashing/ slapping static-bound elements on top.
Kotwica is a bleakly moody example of the ANW form. It’s a mix of constantly rolling low-end gallop with tautly jittering static tone. It feels like it could be possible, slowing down/ thinning out, but I think this is just an illusion, and the whole thing is relatively fixed.
Ode à l'échec (Ode To Failure) is a recent four-track release from the French wall noise project Raté. Each of the tracks runs between five and thirteen minutes, with the sound moving between very full/ overloaded, taut, and seared.
Liverpool born folk singer/songwriter, Steve Tilston released his debut album, An Acoustic Confusion in 1971, since that time he has recorded a host of other records, both solo and with a host of other bands/ artists including two albums with his ex-wife Maggie Boyle, an album with the band Waz! and Jez Lowe, to name just a few. Last Call is to be the final album in a career spanning more than 50 years.
Open Flask is a recent long-form track wall noise release from Cincinnati’s Whore’s Breath. The single forty-five-minute track is built around a punishing, yet oddly engaging pelting & juddering static grain-toned wall, which is woven into a thick/ impenetrable mass.
Fear Below is a 2025 Australian film that tries to do something different and original with the tried, tested, and to be honest, tired Sharksploitation genre. The film is set in the year 1946 and focuses on a van full of stolen gold at the bottom of a large river, with a bull shark circling & darting through the murk of the water. Here from Signature Entertainment is a digital first(May 19), and later DVD release(June 6) of the picture.
A Spaceman Came Travelling is a three-CD set from the German MIG label, bringing together four mid to early 80’s albums from Eella Craig- an Austrian project who present a fairly synth-heavy blend of prog rock & jazz/funk-classical fusion, which had either a Sci-fi or Christian theme running through it.
Shrunken Headss is a mid-90s horror/ dark comedy film with a very EC horror comic vibe. The film is set in a reality that sits somewhere between the 50s and 90s- focusing on a group of comic-loving pre-teen friends, who get tangled up with the local gang, get murdered, then become reanimated in the form of floating heads by the local newsagent/voodoo doctor. Here from 101 films is a Blu-ray release of the film.
Pinocchio 964 is an early 90s Japanese cyberpunk/ surreal horror film regarding an abandoned cyborg sex slave, who is found and initially helped by a homeless woman. The film is often a maniacal, deranged ride, full of up-close/low-angle shots, twitching limbs, with moments of vomit, blood, and a generally anxiety-inducing tone/ feel. Here from 88 Films is a recent Blu-ray release of the film, taking in new/ archive interviews, and a few shorts by the same director.
Mermaid Legend is a mid-80s Japanese film that shifts from being a small fishing port set drama/ murder mystery, onto being a blood-spurting vengeance thriller, with slight fantasy/ supernatural undertones. It’s a decidedly tonally shifting affair-moving between the dramatic, laidback underwater mellowness, sleazy obnoxiousness, and seared brutality- it’s certainly an interesting/ intriguing mix of genres/ tone. Here from Third Window Films as part of their Director's Company Collection, which focuses on the legendary 1980s Japanese production company, is a recent Blu-Ray of the film, featuring a new scan of the film, a commentary track, a writer's interview, and a visual essay.
Squeal is a crude, crust grinding, and terminal nasty example of wall noise. This is a short, but effective shot of walling- that will reward you when you're after a quick dose of set noise crudity.
The Harrowing Of Hell is a dense, gloomy, and truly oppressive slice of drone-bound wall-craft, with moodily effective/ distant industrial undercurrents. This recently released digital album from Poland’s Sado Rituals rolls in at seventy-seven minutes and seven seconds long, remaining bleakly tolling and grimly thickly grinding throughout.
London-based death metallers, Vacuous, make their Relapse Records debut with their sophomore LP, In His Blood. Fast, furious, grim, and guttural, this latest shows the band expanding upon their varied influences and moving their sound forward in fun and frenetic ways. Mixing this speed with a dark, brooding ominousness, In His Blood delivers on atmosphere as well as intensity, utilizing both with aplomb and keeping the varied tempos and structures fresh and interesting. With a nod to their influences, Vacuous move forward on their own path of darkness and destruction, and In His Blood is the latest chapter in their story.
Taba is a work of unbridled interiority, cloying at times, others, downright claustrophobic. Spread over 14 short pieces, the album, by Japanese artist, Satomi, is predicated on the simultaneous existence of the individual and the larger collective (Taba) to which it inevitably belongs, however fraught that relationship.
Andreas Oskar Hirsch is a composer of unconventional and meticulous electro-acoustic music, who I reviewed once previously, in 2018, with his album Early Carbophonics. He has been largely silent since that recording, only now returning with The Salamander Treaty, his new LP, in 2025.
Zound Delta 2 is, unfortunately, one of the last things that Phill Niblock was working on before his death in January 2024, and in that regard is a fitting tribute to a sorely lost figure. Niblock was known for constructing monolithic drone works, often as installation pieces, and indeed I was lucky enough to see one - many years ago, in Ghent - and it was a visceral, compelling experience. Anna Clementi and Thomas Stern had been working with new Niblock scores in the years before his death, and these tracks came from that work. Clementi is a singer who works in the experimental sphere, whilst Stern is a musician who has worked with numerous people like: Phew, Nick Cave, Jaki Liebezeit, and Swans, and was a member of one of the Berlin incarnations of Crime & The City Solution.
The Coffee Table (aka La Mesita Del Comedor) is an early 2020s film, which blends dark-as-night humour, domestic drama, and visceral horror in a highly troubling and at points very comfortable/tension-inducing manner. The Spanish film focuses on, as its title suggests, a simple Coffee Table- building its disturbing, and later soul-numbing, unfold from its purchase. Here from Second Sight Films- as either a Ltd boxset release, or a stand-alone Blu Ray release- is a release of the film, both versions take in a new commentary track & other new extras. With the box set adding: a one-hundred-and-twenty-page book, art cards, and a rigid slip case.
Edge of Eternity is a late 50s whodunit/ crime thriller set around the Grand Canyon. It’s a well-paced film, with a neat mystery at its centre, touches of romantic drama, some great footage of the Canyon, as well as a few dizzying stunts. Here from Powerhouse is a recent Blu-ray release of the film- it takes an HD remastered print with great colours, and a good selection of new extras.
The Pick-Up is a late 60s blend of post-noir and roughie. It regards, as its title suggests, a money pick up, by two mob couriers, which doesn’t go quite as planned. The film's first half is mainly focused on the noir side of things, with a few light touches of softcore- then it turns very fleshy, sleazy, and nasty. Here, from Severin, is a Blu-ray release of the fully uncut film - the two-disc affair takes in commentary tracks, other extras, and on the second disc, we find Mau Mau Sex Sex- a long out-of-print doc regarding history of exploitation films- with a focuses legendary producers David F. Friedman and Dan Sonney- this once again has commentary tracks/ other extras- though this double Blu Ray version of the release is only available direct from Severin.
In My Skin is the 2002 debut feature film from French director Marina De Van (Don’t Look Back, Hop – o’-My Thumb and Dark Touch). It’s considered to be one of the New French Extremity movies, a group of French horror movies made at the turn of the century that are perceived to be extreme or transgressive. In My Skin stars director Marina De Van (See The Sea, Sitcom and La Clef) in the role of our protagonist, Esther, alongside Laurent Lucas (Raw, Alleluia and With A Friend Like Harry), Léa Drucker (Close, Custody and Last Summer), and Thibault de Montalembert (Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, All Quiet on the Western Front and The King).
Là. A ubiquitous word with a meaning that changes according to its use. It’s a word that points to the multiplicity of language and to identity - something that is used to remarkable effect in this piece of musical art jointly created by Laszlo Umbreit, Sirah Foighel Brutmann and Eitan Efrat and labelled after the word in question. Borne out of Brutmann and Efrat’s exhibition of the same name, Là is driven by a political vision and a lament for the current fate of the people of Palestine’s Negev/Al Naqab desert. The trio along with Ot Lemmens have created a poignant sonic journey that brings together acoustic instruments, processed electronics and mechanical sounds in a prevailing maelstrom of emotion.
Oil Lamps is a slowly turning sour romantic period drama, edged with dark humour, tragedy, and moments of grim disquiet. The early 1970s Czechoslovak film regards Stepha, the happy-go-lucky/ bright ‘n’ buoyant daughter of a wealthy couple, who is desperate to find a husband, but keeps getting turned down. So, she agrees to marry her cousin Pavel, who is back from serving in the army/ and has huge debts. Here from Second Run films is a new Blu-ray release of the film, taking in a new 4k scan, commentary track, and a few other extras.
Dreamy soundscapes and almost tactile textures are the focus of Out of the Blue, the latest album from Yokohama-based sound artist Tomo-Nakaguchi. From cool, 80s noir-ish street scenes to high-flying vistas as far as the eye can see, Out of the Blue covers a lot of sonic ground (and mental footage). With its layers working subtly but effectively, the album conveys a very large and lush scope with each track, wonderfully giving the listener a vivid look at Tomo-Nakaguchi's mind's eye.