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High And Low is an early 60’s mix of police procedural thriller and kidnap drama. The Japanese film regards an executive on the cusp of carrying out a company buyout, being pulled into a kidnap plot. The film's title regards its setting- the first half takes place high up above the city in the executive huge, widowed house, and the second half down in the city & its surrounding countryside. Here from the BFI is a Blu-Ray release of the film
V/H/S Beyond is the seventh in this found-footage horror anthology series. The 2024 film features five stories with a distinctive sci-fi/alien-focused tone- with a wrap-around story regarding VHS tapes found at a flea market and a large house linked to extraterrestrials where all the inhabitants disappeared. Each story is fairly gore-bound- with often a pacy action-bound feel to their unfold. Here from Acorn Media International is a Blu-Ray release of the film- with a few extras on the disc.
The Gift was the ninth feature film from Sam Rami- appearing in the year 2000, two years before he directed the first of his three box-office-topping Spiderman films. The picture is a steadily unfolding blend of small-town drama, thriller, and murder mystery - with light touches of dark fantasy and supernatural horror. It focuses on a single mom psychic played by Cate Blanchet- who gets tangled trying to find the fiancée of the town school principal. Here from Arrow Video is a release of the film- coming as either UHD or Blu-Ray- taking in a new 4k scan, two new commentary tracks, and a good selection of new and archive extras.
Never short on concept, Venomous Echoes returns with Dysmor, utilizing a forward thinking blend of death and black metal to tackle the anxiety, fear, and frantic thoughts caused by the artist's body dysmorphia. With this in mind, it also helps to shed some light on the subject matter of 2023's Writhing Tomb Amongst the Stars, but sees a musical progression in form and construction. Never one to rest on his laurels, Ben Valweeden is a one man maelstrom handling everything but the cover art. His vision is clear and his path from start to finish takes the listener through chaos, madness, grime, terror, but also distorted beauty in the form of piano and sax.Truly and intriguing and engaging work, Dysmor is another great album in a quickly growing catalog.
Active between the late '60s and mid 80’s Bass Construction where a New York Funk/ disco band who was unafraid to blend in other genres into their sound – moving from rock, jazz, Latin, reggae and beyond. Don’t Stop Keeping On is a three-disc compilation of the bands output- taking in forty-three tracks from across the bands ten released albums.
Using turntables, modular gear, and percussion, Joke Lanz & Thomas Rehnert have crafted a release comprised of two very long tracks, each of which is like an accelerationist manifesto on how to combat the culture industry of drifting attention: outrun the bastards! As the title of their join effort portends, Combination Without Repetition, the gauntlet has been thrown. Never let any moment of sonic expression reach a point of repeatability, lest the army of Ritalin-addled nippers get their way. What does this all mean, you might ask? Well, the 33 minutes that make up this work leave absolutely no room for getting into a groove, anticipating what comes next, because Lanz and Rehnhert amputate any morsel of potential auditory pleasure before it can become a "thing", the sonic form of an object or stable entity. This makes for difficult listening, to be sure, but if you can read a little, the duo are pretty upfront about their intentions, and the work that went into crafting such a frenetic journey is worth paying attention to, even if it hurts and you just want to turn the damn thing off (I know I did).
Bong-Ra has been the project of Jason Köhnen since the mid-90s, and although I've heard the name, I've never listened to his music before. I was excited to read that Black Noise( the project's 11th album) is classified as industrial metal, as this genre has largely diminished in popularity over the years.
Rosalie Cunningham, the former vocalist with psychedelic rockers Ipso Facto and Purson has recently released her third solo album, To Shoot Another Day to much fanfare. Rosalie, has been ploughing a lone furrow since releasing her self-titled debut solo album in 2019 and this third instalment sees her taking her brand of psychedelic rock/pop to the next level."
Here’s a mini-CDR (officially the best format, I declare) from Inner Demons Records, a prolific US label who deal exclusively, I think, in 3” CDRs. The label releases a lot of harsh noise and HNW, and given that ARCANA OF PHYSICS : Panspermia is two tracks amounting to twenty minutes, I suspected eumourner would be static walls. But I was wrong. Eumourner is Francesco La Cava, Gherardo Zauber Pierantoni, and Michele Venturi, utilising percussion, voices, guitars, theremin, bass, field-recording, cut-ups, samples, and effects.
Buy Or Die is a three-CD boxset compilation looking at the output of Ralph Records- The Residents ‘s curated/ run label that existed between the early 70’s and late 80’s. The set focuses on the key/ productive ten-year period between 1972 and 1982- taking in sixty-three tracks over its three discs.
Here’s a two-disc sonic journey into dada anti-music, dense & surreal noise craft, wonky ‘n’ warped jam-making, and abstract/unbalancing soundart. It’s a release that both engages and frustrates in equal measures- as it plays with your logic, senses and at points even one's own sanity.
The Man From Majorca is a Swedish police procedural thriller directed in 1984 by Bo Widerberg. It is released by Radiance here on Blu-ray in a hi-def digital transfer with improved English subtitles. The film is Widerberg’s almost decade-long follow-up to his previous thriller The Man On The Roof (1976). During the intervening years, the director had mostly been occupied with various TV projects, the exception being the theatrical release Victoria (1979), a drama concerned with a cross-class relationship.
Dead, Dead Swans play a stark, raw and world-weary blend of American folk music- with a largely pared-back guitar, banjo, and male vocal setting. Even Still, We Were Together is seemingly the band's second album- taking in ten tracks, that chart downbeat/blue-collar life.
Love In The Jungle is the third in the series of Destination Love compilations from Germany's Bear Family Records. It’s a twenty-six-track affair- featuring songs from between the 1950s and 1960s- moving rock ‘n’ roll, sassy easy listening, jiving ‘n’ griding grooves, novelty pop fair, strip tease music, and related genres.
From 2024, Killcast is a low-key/low-budget serial killer horror film, which uses its budget well to create a gritty, grimly brooding, at points unease & brutal watch. It regards a troubled crime podcast reporting on a local killing spree, which gets more personal as her friends and accomplices start getting taken out. Here from SRS Cinema is a DVD release of the film.
From the early 40s, Sahara is a compelling, eventful at points, decidedly tense and gritty WWII desert set action drama. It regards a single American tank crew led up by Humphrey Bogart, who, along its way to find water and safety, picks up a selection of survivors- as the Germans are surrounding on all sides, and all hope seems lost. Here from the fine folks at Powerhouse is a new Blu-Ray release- featuring a beautiful -defined HD scan of the film, a new commentary track, and a selection of new/ archive extras.
Hamburg-based noise theorist and musician, David Wallraf, returns to Karl for his second release with the label, Crudeltá Necessaria. Focused on the abject cruelty showcased in the works of legendary Italian filmmaker and writer, Pier Paolo Pasolini. Wallraf uses multiple textures and processes to bring about his view and the resulting noise palette is a vibrant and exciting form of expression. Samples, field recordings, and thick distortion all come together to help Wallraf paint his vision which resonates well with those familiar with the works of Pasolini, but also speaks very strongly to those who have yet to be initiated.
Alarm is the first full-length release from LARMO- aka Poland’s Mirosław Matyasik, who has been active in his country scene since the early 2000’s dabbling in genres such as IDM, industrial, and electro-experimental fare. The album is a twelve-track affair which focuses on hard-hit, nastily brooding, at points noise-edged beat-based music.
Reception Radiation is a new four-track album from Swedish electronica project Jarl. As the release titles hint the theme here is radiation- each of the four beatless/synth tone wash-based tracks puts the intensity of radiation in sonic form, starting at 25 % and ending at 100%. Each of the tracks runs between eight and twenty-one minutes
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).