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The Grey Area is a split CD EP that’s heady with taut beats, brooding bass lines, and very ominous intentions. Both projects come from Silesia Poland, and both have bleak ‘n’ lightly noise-edged take on the electronica form.
The House Of Haunted Horror is a swinging 60’s blend of creepy house horror, proto-slasher, and murder mystery. It blends camp and colourful vibes/ clothes, with moments of eerie unease and bright red gore. Here from 88 films- as part of their Tigon collection series is a new Blu-Ray release of the film- featuring an HD scan, two commentary tracks and a few other extras.
Stray Dog is a pacy, engaging, and wonderfully shot example of where Japanese noir meets police thriller. The 1940s film is set in sweltering heat heat-bound Tokyo- following the plight of a rookie cop who tries to track down his stolen service gun. Taking him on a real adventure, from going uncover trailing the city streets, into a baseball stadium, through dances collapsed chorus line dressing rooms, into mist morning countryside. Here from the BFI is a new Blu-Ray release of the film- taking in a new crisp ‘n’ clean 4k scan, a new commentary track, and a few other extras.
Memory Scale (aka Arnaud Castagné from Bordeaux, FR) has crafted a pretty unique take on the ambient genre in his Chapter Five, a new album composed of twelve tracks that are really, for lack of a better term, songs. This is part of what makes this work unique, for the structure and internal momentum present within each composition certainly moves, in a developmental way, toward a horizon, wherever that is. To be fair, any music does by virtue of its durational character, but the movement I mean here is formal, built into the internal tensions within each song.
Harawata Man aka Intestines Man is a 2019 horror comedy from director Yu Nakamoto (Dead Cop, Phone of the Dead and Sensei! Kuchisake-onna Desu!) starring Yûko Gotô (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, and Code Geass), Marie Kai (the Kamen Rider series of movies) and Tsugumi Sakuragi (Ultraman Blazar, Momentary Lily and Hoshi no Samidare).
A big part of the appeal/ enjoyment of the glam/ hair metal form comes from its more campy and cheesier tendencies. One band who has these elements in spades is Tigertailz- who are not from the epicentre of genre LA, but Cardiff Wales. For A Few Dollarz More! The Archives Vol 1 is a three-CD boxset focusing on bands’ output from between the years 1984 and 1991, featuring two albums, six EPs, and demo tracks.
Nearly a decade ago now, I found myself laying on the floor of London’s esteemed Jazz Café instructed to do so by Australian ambient connoisseur, Lawrence English as he launched into a transcendent musical voyage that placed us floor-dwellers in a truly meditative state. Such is the essence of English’s music that during his twenty or so years in the world of ambient he has established himself as one of the true originals. He’s also incredibly hardworking - consistently producing music either solo or collaboratively and already chalking up his first release of 2025 with Even The Horizon Knows Its Bounds.
From 2023, He Never Left is a film that blends various thriller and horror sub-genres to interesting, sometimes effective, sometimes less-so-effective results. It brings together stuck-in-one location tenseness, bloody serial killer action, urbane legend unease, and mismatched cop drama/ comedy. Here from Epic Pictures is a recent Blu-Ray release taking in a commentary track, a lenghty making of, and a few other extras.
Here’s a noise split themed around the genre-defining found footage film The Blair Witch Project. The six tracks bring together elements of forking-yet-moody harsh noise, churning walled noise, more noise-focused ambience, and of course more than a few seared-up 'n' bucked film samples.
Dark Days Coming is an eleven-track-walled noise compilation focusing on the election of Donald Trump as the 47th US President. The tracks featured here have runtimes between five and ten minutes, with a focus( largely) on the thicker and more roasting side wall craft, fitting the theme/ anger of the collection well.
Five long years since his last Long Trax release, Will Long (also known as Celer) returns with four fun, upbeat pieces of light dance with Long Trax 4. Long not only because of the composer but also the track length, these four songs are spread over four 12" sides, presenting quite a layout for the grooves contained within. The eponymous project is quite a departure from the ambient works of Celer, but Will Long has been producing engaging house and dance music for nearly a decade so he's well represented in both styles of electronic music.
Miasm is one of the many projects from respected and long-running US noisemaker Richard Ramirez. As its title suggests this is the fourth release from this project, which started in 2017. It comes as either cassette or digital download- featuring two side-long tracks that blend walled noise, harsh noise, and moodier fare that sits between post-industrial and uneasy ambience.
House Of Bondage severs up two half-an-hour slabs of grinding ‘n’ searing walled noise from this ultra-prolific California project. With each being as unforgiving, yet appealingly intense as the other.
Composer and bassist Tony Elieh has created a new project with Arabic singer and songwriter Aya Metwalli called Los Panteros. Their debut album on Famous Grapes Recordings is 24 Ribs. Elieh was former bassist for Lebanese punk band Scrambled Eggs, while Metwalli's background lies in Egyptian traditional music. There are four pieces here, which range from seven to ten minutes each.
Directed by Eiichi Kudo (13 Assassins, Eleven Samurai and Shadow Warriors) in 1981, Yokohama BJ Blues is a Japanese neo-noir film starring Yusaku Matsuda (Black Rain, A Chaos of Flowers and The Killing Game), Hyôe Enoki (The Last Dinosaur, Shogun and Female Ninja Magic: 100 Trampled Flowers), Mari Henmi (Redlove: The Art and Consequences of Illusion, Memai and Kono Ko No Nanatsu No Oiwai Ni) and Toby Kadoguchi (The Execution Game, She Cat and The Black Battlefront Kidnappers).
The distinctions between modern/contemporary classical and the countless offerings that appear under the catch-all "ambient" are increasingly difficult to identify without a few helpful liner note or two. I suppose someone with a formal musical education could probably feign some deeper appreciation for the notational correctness in the former, or so I imagine, but not I. On the level of sonic expression and its recorded capture and manipulation, there does seem to be a shared interest in the arrhythmic, for whatever reason. I guess that how each artist in their respective genre ended up choosing that path probably says a great deal about the genealogy of their own concept of music. Enter Olga Anna Markowska, one of those classically trained instrumentalists who has crafted an elegant, and at times quite moving, ambient album, ISKRA, composed of electronics, cello, zither, and the like. In true classical fashion, ISKRA is essentially a narrative journey divided into 10 individual compositions, each with their own emphasis on a particular time of the day, from dawn until dusk
The Girl In The Pool is a recent take on the will-they-get-caught-or-not Thriller. It finds Tom (Freddie Prinze Jr) a middle-aged/middle-management father of two trying to retain a cool and calm demeanour, as the body of his dead lover is hidden nearby. Here from Signature Entertainment is a digital release of the film.
Slap The Monster On Page One (1972) is a political thriller from Italy’s Years of Lead (late 1960s – late 1980s) released on Blu-ray by Radiance. This is a 4K restoration from the original negative.
High Crime is an early 1970s Poliziottesco/crime action film focusing on drug smuggling. It features a great rage exploding-to-emotional performance from lead Franco Nero, a good shifting pace, some great/ tense action set-ups, and creative shot use. Here from Blue Underground is a three-disc release of the film- taking in a UHD, Blu-Ray, and CD. With a new 4k scan, three commentary tracks, a good selection of new/ archive extras, and the film's soundtrack.
Feed is an early 2000 Australian film that combines elements of crime thriller and body horror with light touches of twisted dark comedy. The kinetically edited and music-heavy film concerns a cybercrime investigator who discovers a website where seemingly women are being fed to death. Here from Unearthed Films is a Blu-Ray release of the film, which includes a good selection of extras.
Weak Spot is a rewardingly twisting ‘n’ turning 70’s thriller set in a dystopian Greece, where a middle-aged man is arrested on bizarre/jumped-up charges. It’s a film that hooks you in from the off, then holds you in its tense WTH will happen next unfold, with a nicely edgy-to-moody Ennio Morricone score. Here from Radiance Films- both in the UK and Stateside- is a new blu ray, with a new 4k scan, and a few extras.
Panic In The Year Zero is an American early 60’s post-nuke thriller/ drama focusing on a family unit in peril. Instead of going down the expected route of looking at the town/city damage and health issues caused by such an event. The film looks at how people might react/ interact with each other. Here from Radiance is a Blu-Ray release of the film- taking in both new and archive extras.
Bringing together two legendary Québécois electronic artists, Crucial Blast releases Possession Subcosmique on both digital and limited cassette. Compiling three songs each from Présence du Futur and Bête Lumineuse, this release represents both sides of the coin, with Presence Du Futur focusing on a more traditional synth-based approach and Bête Lumineuse bringing industrial soundscapes. Despite sounding too varied on paper, the triads complement each other in numerous ways and when played all the way through, almost feel like an evolution, or maybe more correctly, a de-evolution.
Negativity Positive Lullabies For The Malignant Vol 2 is a three-track affair from Tucson, Arizona Ennaythch. It finds the one-person project moving away from its more formal wall noise origins, for a blend of textured sound scaping, low-key beats, and gloomy post-industrial Sound craft.