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The Invasion is an early 2000s alien epidemic sci-fi thriller, featuring Nichole Kidman as a Washington, D.C psychiatrist who starts to notice something a miss with both her patients and her estranged husband. In the cast, she’s joined by Daniel Craig (latter-day James Bond) as a Doctor friend- for a nicely pacy and paranoid-edged ride of a film. Here from Arrow- both in the UK and stateside- is a new Blu-Ray release of the picture-taking in a new print, a new commentary track, and a few other new/old extras.
From the early ’70s, A Symphony For Amaranths is a larger jazz orchestra-focused album. It moves from tone shifting/ mood vary composition, to more dramatic/ theatrical poem-weaved pieces. Neil Ardley- was an influential English jazz musician and composer, whose body of work largely dates from the 70’s. Here from BGO Records is a CD reissue of the album- featuring a remastered mix, a bonus track, and a fifteen-page inlay booklet with a new write-up about the album/its composer.
The rather wonderfully monikered Dan Hicks And His Hot Licks were an American band who largely operated between the late 60s and 1970s. They brewed up an idiosyncratic/ at times playful blend of cowboy folk, jazz, country, swing, bluegrass, pop, and gypsy music. Here from BGO Music is a two-CD set bringing together three of the band's albums from the early 70’s- taking Where’s The Money?, Stinking Rich, The Last Train To Hicksville…The Home Of Happy Feet.
Christmas horror is virtually a genre in itself. And by Santa, there have been some greats. Silent Night, Deadly Night Parts 1 and 2, Christmas Evil, Gremlins (?) and of course the best of the bunch proto-slasher, Black Christmas. It always feels like a bit of a win-win for horror fans around this time of year - coming off the back of Halloween going straight into the festive season and director Airell Anthony Hayles’ recent holiday horror, Advent fits the bill rather nicely.
Mother Mallards Portable Masterpiece Co. is a live synthesizer band founded by David Borden, that has taken several forms over the decades, beginning in the late 60's. This two disk collection is an anthology reflecting back upon their various eras.
Originally released as part of Severin’s excellent The Eurocrypt of Christopher Lee, a collection featuring five of the classic horror movies Lee made in continental Europe during the 1960s and 70s. Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace was originally released in 1962, it was a Franco/ German / Italian production with an English star (Lee) and an English director, a man Lee worked with on a number of occasions, Terence Fisher (Horror of Dracula, Curse of Frankenstein and The Devil Rides Out).
Beezel is a 2024 horror film regarding a soul-sucking & flesh-eating Witch. The film's story is told over a time frame of sixty years- blending together filmed and found footage. The picture nicely blends a sense of hovering dreading, with moments of both creepiness & darting horror, and a few neat touches of shock ‘n’ gore. Here from Epic Pictures is a Blu-Ray release of the film- taking in a short making of, and two short films by the picture's makers
Daiei Gothic is a Blu-ray box set bringing together three classic Japanese ghost story films. The pictures date from between the late 1950s and mid-1960s- moving from a samurai drama/ supernatural crossbreed, snow-bound witch meets romantic drama, and a ghostly love story.
Amid the revival of the 80s aesthetic – heavy chorus effects, suffocated synth washes, ethereal vocals – the ability to effectively distinguish the genuine from the genuflected is nearly impossible. I have to admit that this entire genre is one that quite intentionally passed me by in its heyday, almost surely a result of my own narrow-mindedness when it came to anything that had electronic beats thrown into the mix. Well, Tactical Pagan (aka Andy Swan et al.) has put forth a kind of life raft of sorts for those of us who missed the boat, and for those who wished its journey had never come to close. Recorded directly to 8-track and mastered by label head and critical figure in the UK version of this story, Justin K. Broadrick, this eponymous debut revives the specific media technology that brokered dark wave, electro music of the 80s, while updating its most critical elements.
No Sides Records presents True Scale: Live 2014-2019 CD by Hideous Replica. The Brooklyn duo of Dan Hintz and Frank Rose record and perform using only iPods and their amplifiers. Despite being active for a decade and having many recordings available on their bandcamp page, True Scale appears to be their first widely available physical release.
Demons Dance Alone was the 27th album from The Residents. Released in the year 2002, it offered some of the long-running US project's most tuneful/ approachable, at times emotionally charged material- with much of their more difficult edges stripped back, for a quirkier, at points melancholic vibe. From Cherry Red/ MVD audio/ New Ralph here is the next in the 'Preserved Series’ which sees the labels releasing the ultimate edition of Resident albums- with each album getting a classy new remastering, and loads of rare/unreleased material. This is a three-disc CD set- that brings together the original album, demos, bonus tracks, and live takes on the material.
The Polydor Years is a two-CD set bringing together one EP and one album released by British new wave artist Peter Godwind, with each disc also taking in a fair few bonus tracks be they single mixes, remixers, or instrumental takes on album tracks. Mr Godwind’s take on the New Wave is fairly moody/dramatic, though the steady snaping ‘n’ bounding electro beats and jaunting synths are never too far away.
Here from 88 films is a Blu-Ray boxset bringing together the three films from the notorious Guts Of A Virgin trilogy. The Japanese mid-1980s pictures blend often rape and torture touching softcore with horror and crime thriller elements, for intense, bizarre and quirky cinematic rides. This, I believe, is the first-ever release of these films in the UK- with each picture having its own disc, featuring a clean and bright scan, with new interviews with the director for two of the films.
From 2023 Starve Acre is a blend of folk horror and downbeat drama. Set in the 1970s, the British production has the pace ‘n’ flow of the films from the decade it’s set in- slowly stirring together low-key dread & glum drama. Later adding into the mix we have elements of the supernatural creepy, with a few blood & jarring moments of violence. From the BFI here is a new release of the film- either coming as a DVD or Blu-Ray- taking in a commentary track, and a good selection of other extras.
To say The Blair Witch Project, is both influential and impactful is truly an understatement. Among the many things it did- it inspired and informed a whole film genre, changed the way we viewed the internet, and truly blurred the lines between fact and fiction. But beyond all this is a perfectly crafted slow burn, building up its feel of dread, panic, and unease- it features a highly believable/well-picked cast, and an inspired use of showing little or nothing, to trigger primal fear/imagination. Here from Second Sight Films is a new Blu-Ray boxset- featuring two cuts of the film, a new two-hour & half documentary, commentary tracks, outtakes, and more- with the set coming presented a one hundred and eighty-five-page hardback book with archive production materials, new essays and an additional book ‘Heather’s Journal’.
Diaries of Destruction is the collaboration of composer and guitarist Elif Yalvaç and bassist Jordan Muscatello, on the surface a joining of Turkish and British minds, but actually encompassing the majority of Europe through their collaborations, inspirations, and travels. Showcasing the more experimental end of drone metal, Elif's guitars and Jordan's bass form a thick and resinous tribute to their shared interests and inspirations, utilizing effects and electronics to further their aims. Dark but not without hints of light, DoD II is a somber affair that uses its thickness to invigorate and challenge, its emotional component is able to shine through and directly communicate to the listener. Whether referencing the Welsh tradition of Mari Lwyd, the Icelandic phrase "Þetta Reddast,” or reminiscing about Jean Claude Van Damme films, DoD II carries the heart and soul of its composers, and the dirges and exultations of their inner workings
Village Of Doom is an early 80’s Japanese crime drama based on one of the country's worst spree kills- The Tsuyama Massacre. It occurred in a small rural village in 1938, with thirty villages being killed by a twenty-one-year-old Mutsuo Toi - who had once showed so much promise. Much of the film’s one hour and forty minute five runtime regards the build-up to the massacre- so the film is best seen as a character study- come psychological unfolding, though we do get brutally bloody resolve. Here from Unearthed Films, is a Blu-Ray release of this lesser-known Asian true crime film- with a commentary track and a few other things.
This rather impressive-looking double-bill Blu-ray set from Film Masters features two early 60s neo-noir titles from the early 1960’s- Door-To-Door Maniac which features none other than Johny Cash in its lead, and the sightly sleazier Right Hand Of The Devil.
From 1972 The Italian Connection (La Mala Ordina) is the middle entry in director Fernando Di Leo’s poliziottesco ‘Milieu Trilogy’. Here from Radiance Films/ Raro Video is a remastered 4K Blu-ray release of the film, featuring a good selection of extras.
Here’s a quirky self-titled album from House of Gold, a band based in Montreal playing the compositions of Isaiah Ceccarelli. Ceccarelli sings and plays drums and synth on the album, accompanied by Eugénie Jobin on vocals and synth, Frédérique Roy on vocals, piano, and synth, and Katelyn Clark on organetto, piano, and synth. The instrumentation should alert you to the fact that this might not be a standard band recording; furthermore some of you might recognise Clark and Ceccarelli as the names behind the excellent Landmarks album released on Another Timbre a couple of years back, which combined organs, synths, and percussion in drones and deep listening. So, with that in mind, we have an album of often obtuse songs which don’t always hit home, but remain engaging nevertheless.
Triple Music takes one on a trip into textural detailed, but fragilely ebbing & flowing electro-acoustic improv. The three-track album utilizes sound loops and pre-recording elements to which the three members of Muddersten arrange in a largely eventful, lightly glitching, though fairly mellow/pared-back manner.
Spektralmaskin (Spectral Machine in English) is a three-track journey into grey ringings, hauntingly warblings, bleak ebbings, and eerily tollings. The collaborative album brings together two Norwegian sound creators- guitarist and composer Jo David Meyer Lysne, and microtonal tuba player, composer, and recording engineer Peder Simonsen.
Bass-heavy and deeply percussive, Samuel Rohrer's Music for Lovers is hardly the stuff of romantic fantasies, and that is very much Rohrer's point. While not really ironic, the love here is more bodily and brooding than tenderhearted and speaks to the connectedness of disparate parts – sound sources, approaches, techniques – which amount to a union of sorts.
Destination Bermuda is twenty five track compilation, which as its title suggests celebrates the island territory in the North Atlantic Ocean known for its pink-sand beaches. The CD is from these masters of the retro compilation Bear Family Records- the tracks are from between the 1950s and 1960’s, with a focus on the largely more mellow side of things- moving between swing, mellow pop, easy listening calypso, lightly simmering organ music, laid-back doo-wop & rock ‘n’ roll, etc.